Al Qaeda warns Saudi Arabia it will pay for executing militants

Saudi Arabia Foreign Minister Adel al-Jubeir told the gathering that Iran’s attack on the Saudi embassy in Tehran after the execution of al-Nimr was the latest incident in decades of aggression.

Senior Arab officials on Sunday called on Arab states to take more measures against Iran in an attempt to rein in the Islamic Republic’s foreign policy behavior, Arab News reports.

“Based on primary investigations, the mistakes of Safa Ali Baratlu, Tehran Province’s deputy governor for security affairs, were proved and the decision to replace him was promptly made due to sensitivity of the case”, the ministry said in the statement, published by Iranian news agencies.

Fundamental questions need to be asked about the UK Government’s relationship with Saudi Arabia and calling the execution of 47 prisoners, some who were political prisoners only “disappointing” is an embarrassing stance from the Government, a Government that is far too close to a regime with serious human rights abuses.

The Cabinet noted the position of Ministers of Foreign Affairs of Gulf Cooperation Council for Arab states, their strong condemnation of Iranian attacks, their categorical rejection of them, and holding Iranian authorities fully responsible according to their commitment to Vienna Conventions 1961 and 1963, and the worldwide law holding countries responsible for protecting diplomatic missions.

Riyadh officials, on the other hand, “not only continue to impede normalization but are determined to drag the entire region into confrontation”, he charged, accusing “the Saudi government or its surrogates” of attacking Iranian diplomats in Lebanon, Pakistan and Yemen, harassing its nationals traveling to Mecca, and inciting violence against Shiite Muslims.

Though it was the executions of Nimr al-Nimr, a prominent Shi-ite cleric and three other Shi’ite Muslims, which drove up sectarian tension with Shi-ite power Iran, analysts say they were meant mostly to send a signal to militant Sunnis. “What happened was not because of the execution of a Saudi citizen”, the minister said, referring to al-Nimr.

“We will not allow Saudi actions to have a negative impact”.

The GCC Ministerial Council discussed the repercussions of the attacks on the Saudi Embassy in Tehran and its consulate in Mashhad. After meeting on Sunday in Cairo for emergency talks requested by Riyadh, Arab League foreign ministers issued a joint statement denouncing the “hostile acts and provocations of Iran” in the dispute.

Both organisations are fighting against Saudi Arabia, which has declared them terrorist groups and locked up thousands of their supporters.