Impact on oil of Iran-Saudi tensions to be brief

“Tensions between Saudi Arabia and Iran will continue to escalate at least verbally”.

Although the United States should continue to seek good relations with Iran, it must now conduct a balancing act to allay the concerns of its Arab allies in the Gulf while showing some toughness in relation to Iran, which in fact is needed to preserve the Iran deal and prevent another regional crisis.

The diplomatic standoff between Iran and Saudi Arabia began Saturday, when the kingdom executed al-Nimr and 46 others convicted of terror charges – the largest mass execution it has carried out since 1980.

The Omani reaction comes four days after protesters torched Riyadh’s embassy and its consulate in Iran over Saudi Arabia’s execution of Sheikh Nimr al-Nimr, a prominent Shiite cleric accused of fomenting sedition in the Sunni-ruled kingdom.

Zarif, meanwhile, blamed Saudi Arabia for exacerbating the situation. Bahrain and Sudan cut their ties, while the United Arab Emirates downgraded its relations and Kuwait recalled its ambassador to Tehran.

The nuclear deal struck last July between Iran and five other world powers was seen as a diplomatic triumph by its authors but it was vehemently opposed by Israel.

Saudi Arabia’s Foreign Minister Adel al-Jubeir attends an interview in Riyadh on January 4, 2016.

Rouhani has referred to the embassy attackers as extremists and said Iran should put an absolute end to attacking embassies. “We have always adopted a policy of interaction and dialogue”, Zarif said, reiterating that the Iranian government had condemned Saturday’s embassy attack as “not at all justified”.

The state news agency Petra says Jordan has summoned Iran’s ambassador to convey its condemnation of the storming of two of Saudi Arabia’s diplomatic missions in Iran.

“Some people want to create the spark that will reignite war among Iraqis and we must stop them because such acts only serve the enemies of Iraq”, said Mohammed Abdelfattah, a Sunni cleric from the Iraqi town of Hilla where several attacks have taken place.

Iran is a key ally of the Shia-led government in Baghdad, has helped it in the fight against the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant group, and supports powerful Shia militias in the country.

Oman on Wednesday said it regretted the “unacceptable” attacks on Saudi missions in Iran but did not announce any measures against the Islamic republic, after some Gulf nations downgraded diplomatic ties.

The impact on the oil market of the breach in diplomatic relations between Saudi Arabia and Iran will be temporary, and the surplus of crude in the market is a bigger threat, Iran’s national representative to OPEC was quoted as saying on Wednesday. He was arrested in 2012 after calling for two Saudi governorates to be separated from the kingdom.