Bahrain Severs Ties with Iran After Attacks on Saudi Missions

It is the Iranians who went into Lebanon. The Cairo-based Arab League said it would hold an emergency meeting at Riyadh’s request on Sunday to discuss the attacks on Saudi diplomatic premises and alleged Iranian interference.

In the nation ruled by a Sunni Muslim monarchy, Al-Nimr demanded equality for Saudi Arabia’s Shiites, and was shot and arrested in 2012.

The Organization of the Oil Exporting Countries (OPEC), led by Saudi Arabia, has declined to impose production caps to prop up crude prices, accelerating a rout that has cut the cost of oil by two-thirds from its highs in 2014. “The ambassador has been summoned to notify them”, Saudi Foreign Minister Adel Al-Jubeir explained.

Sudan and the tiny island kingdom of Bahrain said they would sever ties with Iran, as Saudi Arabia did late Sunday.

The statement was published on Monday afternoon.

Iran was committed to protecting its foreign diplomatic missions, the ministry added.

The disruption in relations between Saudi Arabia and Iran may have implications for peace efforts in Syria. The step is seen as stopping short of a full severing of ties.

Minister of Media Affairs Isa al-Hamadi made the announcement on Monday.

Iranian officials denounced the Saudi moves as tactics that would inflame regional tensions. He was notably a force behind 2011 anti-government protests in the east of the country, where Shiites have long complained of marginalisation.

Dion says Canada is urging authorities and leaders in Saudi Arabia and Iran to work to defuse tensions and promote reconciliation.

Crude importer China declared itself “highly concerned” with the developments, in a rare foray into Middle East diplomacy.

“We will also be cutting off all air traffic to and from Iran”. The pilgrimage is required of every able-bodied Muslim once in a person’s life. “The President has even done that in his conversations with King Salman”, he said.

“Saudi Arabia benefits and thrives on prolonging tensions…” That’s where the family of Sheikh Nimr al-Nimr is holding three days of mourning at a local mosque.

He was put to death along with 46 other prisoners on Saturday.

Sudan’s foreign ministry in a statement said, “In response to the barbaric attacks on the Saudi Arabian embassy in Tehran and its consulate in Mashhad…”

Iran and Saudi Arabia are the two major powers in the region, and previous year entered a proxy war in Yemen, between Iranian-backed Shiite rebels and the Saudi and U.S.-backed Yemeni government, which was expelled from the capital in a rebel coup.