Saudi Arabia severs ties with Iran: foreign minister

Tehran had heavily criticised the Sunni-ruled kingdom, with Iran’s supreme leader saying Saudi politicians will face “divine vengeance” over the killing of Nimr al Nimr.

In three days, relations between Saudi Arabia and Iran have gone from tense to disastrous – and that may reverberate across the Middle East and worldwide.

Saudi foreign minister Adel bin Ahmed Al-Jubeir’s visit to Islamabad on Sunday has been postponed, the foreign office said.

“We are determined not to allow Iran to undermine our security”, said al-Jubeir on television.

Earlier on Saturday, Iran’s Foreign Ministry summoned Saudi Arabian charge d’affaires to Tehran and strongly condemned the execution of al-Nimr, who was executed for terrorism offences. “The only thing he did was public criticism”.

Saudi Arabia has ordered its personnel back from Iran and asked the Iranian diplomatic mission and other entities to depart the Kingdom within 48 hours, Reuters reported.

“We condemned and invite all people of conscience to join hands on the tragic loss of Ayatollah Sheikh Nimr al-Nimr, a world-renowned grand Muslim cleric, advocated for equality and democratic elections within Saudi Arabia”, the Muslim Society of Ottawa said in a release.

The situation deteriorated last night as Saudi Arabia said it had severed ties with Iran over the storming of the embassy.

Iran’s centrist president Hassan Rouhani also criticised Saudi’s rulers for what he called an “un-Islamic act” that he said would fan terrorism and “further tarnish the Saudi image in the world”.

The statement notes previously expressed concerns over the Saudi legal process and reaffirms “our calls on the Government of Saudi Arabia to respect and protect human rights, and to ensure fair and transparent judicial proceedings in all cases”.

He accused the Iranian authorities of not taking any measures to prevent the attacks against the embassy in Tehran and the consulate in the Iranian city of Mashhad.

The UK’s Treasury secretary, David Gauke, became the most senior UK figure to react to the execution, claiming al-Nimr’s death was a “worrying development”.

The move appeared to end any hopes that the appearance of a common enemy in the form of the Islamic State militant force would produce some rapprochement between the region’s leading Sunni and Shi’ite Muslim powers, allied to opposing sides in wars now raging in Syria and Yemen.

“Most of those executed had been convicted of being involved with Al Qaeda in a wave of deadly attacks in the kingdom a decade ago and included prominent leaders and ideologues”.

Iranian protesters attacked and set fire to the Saudi embassy on Saturday after news of the execution spread.