Msia condemns mob attacks on Saudi missions in Iran

The Obama administration tread warily Monday around inflamed tensions between Iran and Saudi Arabia that threaten several key USA foreign policy objectives.

One day after Saudi Arabia’s embassy was set on fire in Tehran by protesters, Saudi ally Bahrain has cut ties with Iran and given Iranian diplomats 48 hours to leave the country.

Saudi Arabia announced Sunday that the country was severing relations with Iran following the mass execution of 47 people, including a prominent Shiite cleric, Nimr al-Nimr.

Saudi Foreign Minister Adel al-Jubeir said he has informed the UN Security Council of the attack on the Saudi diplomatic mission in Iran late Saturday, adding that those Saudi diplomats had reached Dubai, the UAE, safely.

The monarchy, however, has rejected all the criticism, accusing critics of meddling in its internal affairs.

The United Arab Emirates replaced its ambassador with an embassy officer-in-charge, Al Jazeera reports.

Pakistan on Monday expressed concerns over growing tension Saudi Arabia and Iran and called for the resolution of difference through peaceful means.

Iranians hold portraits of Shiite clreric Nimr al-Nimr during a protest in Tehran.

“Iran has acted in accordance with its (diplomatic) obligations to control the broad wave of popular emotion that arose”, foreign ministry spokesman Hossein Jaberi Ansari said in televised remarks.

U.N. Syria mediator Staffan de Mistura is visiting Saudi Arabia and Tehran this week on a preplanned visit, while U.N. Yemen mediator, Ismail Ould Cheikh Ahmed, is to return to the region on Thursday, Dujarric said.

In Yemen, a Saudi-led coalition in March launched an air campaign against Iran-backed Shiite rebels.

Shi’ite groups united in condemnation of Saudi Arabia while Sunni powers rallied behind the kingdom, hardening a sectarian split that has torn apart communities across the Middle East and nourished the jihadist ideology of Islamic State.

However, Jubeir said Saudi Arabia had been right to execute Nimr, whom he accused of “agitating, organising cells, providing them with weapons and money” – allegations that the cleric’s family have denied.

A US official said Kerry had spoken on Sunday with the U.N special envoy for Syria, Staffan de Mistura, to gauge any impact Saudi-Iranian developments might have on the planned January 25 start of negotiations.