Bahrain cuts all air links with Iran

“The government of Saudi Arabia is strongly opposed to the condemnation and protestations on the attacks it is enduring from people who are least abreast with the Islamic jurisprudence practised in our kingdom; which says, ‘Allah Almighty says in the Holy Quran that the recompense of those who wage war against Allah and His messenger and do mischief in the land is only that they shall be killed or crucified or their hands and feet be cut off from the opposite sides or be exiled from the land”.

The announcement comes after Sunni-led Saudi Arabia and Bahrain severed ties with predominantly Shiite Iran this week.

On Sunday, Arab League’s Secretary General Nabil Araby condemned the attacks, calling them a blatant violation of worldwide conventions.

While Jubeir said these pilgrimages would be not be impacted by the severing of ties, separate sources have said Saudi has closed Iran’s haj office in the kingdom.

Despite the fears, Saudi Arabia’s ambassador to the UN, Abdallah al-Mouallimi, insisted the row would not have an impact on efforts to resolve regional conflicts.

GERMANY – Berlin has called on Saudi Arabia and Iran to work to mend their diplomatic ties, while condemning both the mass executions in the kingdom and the storming of the Saudi missions in Iran.

SUDAN – The African nation cut diplomatic ties to Iran and gave Iranian diplomats two weeks to leave the country. Since then, Iranians have attacked several embassies in Tehran including those of Kuwait in 1987, Saudi Arabia in 1988, Denmark in 2006 and Britain in 2011.

The statement justified the killings, noting that they had been found guilty of attacks on the Saudi Embassy in Tehran and its consulate in Mershad and not due to their religious beliefs. The protesters were enraged over the Sunni kingdom’s execution of prominent Shiite cleric Nimr al-Nimr over the weekend.

RUSSIA – State news agency RIA Novosti quoted an unnamed senior diplomat as saying Moscow is ready to act as a mediator between Iran and Saudi Arabia.

Also on Monday, Bahrain’s Foreign Ministry announced it was cutting diplomatic ties with Iran.

He says the “security of the kingdom is an integral part of Egypt’s security and Egypt’s security is an integral part of the kingdom’s security”.

OMAN – The sultanate has long historical ties to Iran and served as the base for secret talks between Iranian and US officials that jump-started the global deal reached on Iran’s contested nuclear program.

World powers have sought to calm the tensions.

It stressed the importance of doing everything to lower those tensions and “avoid provocations”.

It did not, however, expel Tehran’s ambassador or downgrade the level of diplomatic relationship with Iran.