Bahrain Joins Saudi Arabia, Cutting Diplomatic Ties With Iran

Saudi Arabia took the drastic measure of cutting off diplomatic ties with Iran over the weekend, after Shiite Muslims infuriated by the execution of a prominent Shiite cleric in Saudi Arabia torched the Saudi Embassy in Tehran.

Iran must behave “like a normal country” and not “a revolution”, Saudi Foreign Minister Adel Jubeir said, according to Reuters.

NBC News’ Bill Neely agreed with Haass’ speculation that the execution was a message to Iran and added that it was also a message to it’s own people.

The State Department statement did mention one specific execution however, that of Nimr al-Nimr, a Shiite cleric and political activist, whose death the spokesperson said “risks exacerbating sectarian tensions at a time when they urgently need to be reduced”.

While Iran is a Twelver Shia Islamic Republic founded in an anti-Western revolution, Saudi Arabia is an orthodox “Wahhabi” Sunni Islamic kingdom. World powers sought to calm the tensions, with a Russian state news agency on Monday quoting an unnamed senior diplomat as saying Moscow is ready to act as a mediator in the escalating conflict.

A US official said Monday that Secretary of State John Kerry had spoken with Iran’s foreign minister.

After cutting ties with Tehran on Sunday, Saudi announced it was barring all travel by its citizens to Iran, suspending air travel and ending commercial relations.

Saudi Arabia’s Gulf Arab neighbors, including Bahrain, Sudan and the United Arab Emirates (UAE), have also severed ties with Iran.

The assaults prompted Riyadh to break off diplomatic ties with Iran and order its diplomats to leave the kingdom.

A man was killed and a child was moderately injured on Sunday evening when unidentified gunmen opened fire on a police patrol in Saudi Arabia’s eastern predominantly-Shia Qatif province. The Saudi foreign ministry said none of its diplomats had been harmed in the incident.

It was not immediately clear, however, whether an Iranian representative would be present at the talks. “We reaffirm 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”.

In Washington, White House press secretary Josh Earnest urged Iran and Saudi Arabia “to show restraint and not further inflame tensions that are on quite vivid display in the region”.

Bahrain enjoys particularly close relations with Saudi Arabia, which like Bahrain’s leadership is suspicious of alleged Iranian efforts to destabilize the island nation, which has a tiny Shiite-majority but is Sunni-ruled. “Saudi Arabia sees not only its interests but also its existence in pursuing crises and confrontations and attempts to resolve its internal problems by exporting them to the outside”, said spokesman Hossein Jaber Ansari.