Saudi Arabia to halt flights, trade with Iran – minister

Saudi Arabia’s execution of leading Shiite cleric Nimr al-Nimr on Saturdaysparked a violent protest at the Saudi Embassy in Iran’s capital, Tehran.

Tensions between Saudi Arabia and Iran erupted into a full-blown diplomatic crisis as Riyadh and its Sunni Arab allies cut or reduced ties with Tehran, sparking global concern. NPR’s Deborah Amos recently returned from Saudi Arabia and has been in touch with people there.

The world is awash in oil after Opec members led by Saudi Arabia committed to a strategy of increasing market share by pressuring high-cost producers, rather than cutting output to support prices.

The Saudi Foreign Ministry called the Iranian ambassador to the Saudi capital Riyadh to protest Iran’s “aggressive” statements, which it called “blatant interference in the kingdom’s affairs”, according to the state-run Saudi Press Agency.

Riyadh has previously accused Iran of interfering in Arab affairs. “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”.

The standoff began Saturday, when Saudi Arabia executed Shiite cleric Sheikh Nimr al-Nimr and 46 others convicted of terror charges – the largest mass execution carried out by the kingdom since 1980.

On Jan. 2, Saudi Arabia executed 47 people – including Shiite Sheikh Nimr al-Nimr, a central figure in Arab Spring-inspired protests by Saudi Arabia’s Shiite minority.

In a statement Monday, Bahrain said the attack on the embassy and consulate in Iran occurred “without the slightest regard for values, the law, or morality” and “confirms a determination to spread devastation and destruction, and provoke unrest and strife in the region by providing protection and support for terrorists and extremists and the smuggling of weapons and explosives for use by its affiliated terrorist cells”.

The UN peace envoy for Syria, Staffan de Mistura, was due in Riyadh later Monday for talks aimed at defusing tensions, ahead of a visit to Iran, the UN spokesman said.

Shiite Iran and Sunni Saudi Arabia, which have been long at odds over regional rivalry and leadership of the Muslim world, opened a new chapter in their sour relations after the Arab kingdom severed ties with Tehran. The step is seen as stopping short of a full severing of ties.

“Morocco relies on the wisdom of the Saudi and Iranian officials to prevent the current situation from spreading to other countries in the region already facing many challenges and multiple elements of fragility”, the Moroccan government said on Sunday.

The spark for Sunday’s attacks appears to have been Nimr’s execution a day earlier, which triggered angry reactions in Shi’ite-ruled Iraq and Iran.

Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi said security forces were tracking down the perpetrators “who targeted mosques to sow sedition and undermine national unity”. His boldest move has been a bombing campaign in Yemen, where the Saudis and Iran are on opposite sides of that country’s war.

The real casualty in all this will be Syria if the spat between Riyadh and Tehran derails talks in Geneva and toughens Saudi and Iranian backing of Islamist groups and Assad respectively.