United States treads warily amid Iran-Saudi tensions

White House spokesman Josh Earnest says the U.S.is concerned about the situation and wants Saudi Arabia and Iran to show restraint.

The Saudi Arabian foreign ministry announced on Sunday that Iranian diplomats had 48 hours to leave the kingdom, and that their own diplomatic mission was heading back home from Tehran.

Relations between the two rivals have been testy, but the furor over the Saudi execution of Shiite cleric Nimr al-Nimr, who had criticized the Sunni royal family, threatened to spill over.

Riyadh and then Bahrain and Sudan have now severed relations with Tehran, the main Shiite power. The United Arab Emirates (UAE) also downgraded its ties with Iran.

At the same time, Jamal noted that the executions are not a strong enough reason to cut off diplomatic ties with Saudi Arabia which have recently resumed, following a long break after the first Gulf War.

The execution sparked new demonstrations in Saudi Arabia’s Eastern Province, where Shia Muslims complain of marginalization, as well as in Iraq, Bahrain and several other countries.

Sudan previously had close relations with Tehran, but has increasingly been leaning toward Saudi Arabia.

Robert Jordan is former US Ambassador to Saudi Arabia, Diplomat-in-Residence at Southern Methodist University, and author of “Desert Diplomat: Inside Saudi Arabia Following 9/11″.

In Istanbul, people gathered outside Saudi Arabia’s consulate holding posters of al-Nimr, and shouted “Saudi Arabia will pay the price”.

“When a country has cut diplomatic relations with us, it means it is hostile with us”, Esfanani said.

Iranian foreign minister Mohammad Javad Zarif visited Dhaka previous year in September to brief leaders here about the nuclear deal.

Saudi Arabia is the leading manpower destination of Bangladesh.

The United States responded to the executions with a statement from the State Department saying, “We have previously expressed our concerns about the legal process in Saudi Arabia and have frequently raised these concerns at high levels of the Saudi government”.

After listing the crimes of 43 al-Qaeda members also put to death on Saturday alongside four Shia, Jubeir said of the executions, “We should be applauded for this, not criticised”.

In recent months it has sent hundreds of troops to support the Saudi-backed government in Yemen against Iran-aligned Houthi rebels.

He said U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry had been in touch with his Iranian counterpart and U.S. diplomatic officials had been in contact with Saudi officials to convey the message. “That’s how you really attack ISIS”, Sennott said.