Sudan And Bahrain Join Saudi Arabia, Cutting Diplomatic Ties With Iran

Bahrain followed Saudi Arabia’s lead and severed diplomatic ties with Iran, while the UAE downgraded its diplomatic relations with it, after mobs attacked the Saudi embassy in Tehran following the execution of a prominent Shiite cleric.

MP Dr Abdullah Al-Turaiji asserted the declaration of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia to cut diplomatic ties with Iran is a normal and proper procedure for a country which respects its sovereignty and territorial integrity, and rejects foreign interference in its affairs.

“The members of the Security Council condemned in the strongest terms the attacks against the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia’s embassy in Tehran, and its Consulate General in Mashhad in the Islamic Republic of Iran, which resulted in intrusions into the diplomatic and consular premises, causing serious damage”, said the council statement. And Saudi Arabia, along with Israel’s government and conservatives in the USA, have been the leading opponents of the deal.

He was among 47 men executed on Saturday, including other Shiite activists and Sunni militants the Saudi interior ministry said were involved in Al-Qaeda attacks that killed dozens in 2003 and 2004.

According to a purported cable released by WikiLeaks, a State Department official met with Nimr in 2008 in his hometown of Awamiyya, where Nimr said he was “against the idea that Saudi Shi’a should expect Iranian support based on some idea of sectarian unity that supersedes national politics”. Iranian President Hassan Rouhani was elected in 2013 with a pledge to open up his country to the outside world, revive the economy and pursue at least limited social reforms.

Moreover, Grine believes the religious implications of a violent fight between the two major Muslim communities in Saudi Arabia and Iran, would affect Islam worldwide.

SHEIKH’S EXECUTION: On Jan. 2, Saudi Arabia executed Shiite cleric Sheikh Nimr al-Nimr and 46 others – the largest execution carried out by the kingdom in three and a half decades.

U.N. Syria mediator Staffan de Mistura is visiting Saudi Arabia and Tehran this week on a previously scheduled visit.

When Saudi Arabia severed ties with Iran from 1988 to 1991, Iran stopped its pilgrims from attending the hajj.

“It is shocking that the Saudi diplomats trapped in their embassy in Tehran tried repeatedly to call the Iranian Foreign Ministry to tell them that their lives and mission were at risk and that the Iranian authorities failed to answer the call” it said.

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.

With Obama in his previous year as president, Saudi Arabia seems to be looking past Obama, toward the next USA president, said one analyst with deep ties to Saudi officials.

It remains to be seen how far the conflict between Iran and Saudi Arabia will go in the wake of the Nimr executions, but it is likely to remain a cold war.

White House spokesman Josh Earnest also said the United States “certainly would condemn any country that’s carrying out mass executions” and warned that the dispute between Tehran and Riyadh would make it more hard to push warring side in the Syrian conflict towards a political solution. It was the worst clash between the nations since the 1980s, adding to proxy wars they were already fighting from Syria to Yemen in a quest to gain influence in the Middle East.