UAE recalls Iran envoy, downgrades diplomatic ties

Sudan and Bahrain have followed Saudi Arabia in severing their diplomatic ties with Iran, over an attack on the Saudi embassy in the Iranian capital. Shi’ite Iran hailed him as a “martyr” and warned Saudi Arabia’s ruling Al Saud family of “divine revenge”. Diplomatic envoys from both countries are recalled. “The situation needs to be calmed”, one official told AFP.

The disruption in relations may have implications for peace efforts in Syria.

Sudan said on Monday it was cutting diplomatic ties with Iran after the storming of the Saudi Arabian Embassy in Tehran and consulate building elsewhere in Iran.

Meanwhile, Bahrain also announced it would cut diplomatic ties with Iran, calling on all Bahrainis in Iran to leave the country within 48 hours as it planned to close its diplomatic missions there.

Sunni Arab nations accused Tehran of repeatedly meddling in their affairs, with Saudi Foreign Minister Adel al-Jubeir saying “Iran’s history is full of negative interference and hostility in Arab issues”.

The move prompted outrage in predominantly Shia Iran.

Some 80 Saudis, including diplomats and their families, had already left Iran and arrived in Dubai on Monday, diplomatic sources said.

For instance, the sectarian polarization will most certainly foil Lebanon’s plans to elect a new president; just last month, both Saudi Arabia and Iran had expressed confidence in a power-sharing arrangement and such a scheme is not likely to be fulfilled with the two states at odds with each other.

“Sheik al-Nimr and a number of the other prisoners executed had been convicted following trials that raised serious concerns over the nature of the charges and the fairness of the process”, Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon’s spokesperson said on Saturday in a statement, also deploring violence by demonstrators against the Saudi embassy in Tehran. British Prime Minister David Cameron says the tensions are “hugely concerning“, condemning the execution.

The Middle East accounted for about 30 per cent of global oil output in 2014, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration.

Gulf stocks tumbled, with six of the region s seven exchanges down and the Saudi Tadaul All-Shares Index falling by 2.36 percent.

The Saudi government has also called on its diplomats in Iran to travel back.

At least two Sunni Muslim mosques have been attacked in Iraq and two people killed in apparent retaliation for the execution of a senior Shi’ite cleric in Sunni-ruled Saudi Arabia, officials and police said on Monday. Authorities offered no details on who they suspected in the shooting.

POST-REVOLUTION: After the overthrow of the shah and takeover of the U.S. Embassy in Tehran, Saudi Arabia quickly became America’s top ally in the region.

It’s the latest development in a rift that deepened this weekend, after Saudi Arabia executed a leading Shiite cleric.

Bahraini officials have blamed Iran for training militants and attempting to smuggle arms into the country.

Saudi Arabia’s decision Saturday to execute almost 50 people whom it had branded as terrorists and enemies of the state has poured gasoline onto a Middle East region that can ill afford any more combustible material.