Saudi Arabia severs diplomatic ties with Iran

RIYADH: Saudi Arabia said on Sunday it had severed ties with Iran over the storming of the Saudi embassy in Tehran, in a worsening diplomatic crisis between the regional rivals following the kingdom’s execution of a prominent cleric Ayatollah Baqir al-Nimr.

Foreign Minister Adel al-Jubeir told a news conference Iran’s diplomatic mission and related entities in Saudi Arabia had been given 48 hours to leave.He said Riyadh would not allow the Islamic Republic to undermine the Sunni kingdom’s security.

Jubeir said the attack in Tehran was in line with what he said were earlier Iranian assaults on foreign embassies there and with Iranian policies of destabilising the region by creating “terrorist cells” in Saudi Arabia.

“The kingdom, in light of these realities, announces the cutting of diplomatic relations with Iran and requests the departure of delegates of diplomatic missions of the embassy and consulate and offices related to it within 48 hours.

The ambassador has been summoned to notify them,” he said.Earlier, the foreign ministers of Saudi Arabia and Iran had told their Austrian counterpart Sebastian Kurz that they had no interest in a further heightening of tensions, a spokesman for Kurz said.

“Both foreign ministers gave the assurance that no one can have an interest in a further escalation,” the spokesman said, adding that Kurz had spoken to Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif and his Saudi counterpart Adel al-Jubeir and had called for de-escalation and dialogue between the two countries.

Saudi diplomats evacuated from Iran land in Dubai

Meanwhile, Saudi diplomats evacuated from Iran after their embassy was stormed by protesters in Tehran landed
in Dubai on their way home to the kingdom, Saudi-owned Al Arabiya TV reported early on Monday.

Earlier, Iranian protesters stormed the Saudi Embassy in Tehran as Iran reacted with fury to Saudi Arabia’s execution of the cleric.Demonstrators who had massed at the embassy gates to protest against cleric Nimr’s execution broke into the embassy and started fires before being cleared away by the police, Iran’s ISNA news agency reported.

Pictures posted on Twitter showed parts of the interior on fire and smashed furniture inside one office. Shortly afterwards, Iran’s foreign ministry issued a statement calling for calm and urging protesters to respect the diplomatic premises, the Entekhab news website reported.

Tehran’s police chief, Hossein Sajedinia, told ISNA that an unspecified number of “unruly elements” had been arrested for attacking the embassy with petrol bombs and rocks.Saudi Arabia summoned the Iranian ambassador, only to see its embassy stormed soon afterwards.

Meanwhile, the US State Department said Nimr’s execution “risks exacerbating sectarian tensions at a time when they urgently need to be reduced”.The sentiment was echoed almost verbatim by EU foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini and an official at the German Foreign Ministry.

The State Department also urged the Saudi government to “respect and protect human rights, and to ensure fair and transparent judicial proceedings in all cases”, as well as to permit peaceful expression of dissent and work with all community leaders to defuse tensions.

France deplored Saudi Arabia’s execution of 47 people and called on regional leaders to do everything to avoid exacerbating tension, the foreign ministry said.

“France reiterates its constant opposition to the death penalty, in all places and all circumstances,” the ministry said in a statement.

The United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said he was “deeply dismayed” by the execution of the cleric and 46 other people in Saudi Arabia and called for calm and restraint.

“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,” Ban´s spokesman said in a statement.