Iran, Saudi Arabia Trade Verbal Barbs After Execution Of Shiite Cleric

The UK Government has expressed its “disappointment” at the mass executions carried out by Saudi Arabia which have triggered unrest in the region and led to a breakdown in diplomatic relations between Riyadh and Tehran.

Demonstrators protesting against cleric Nimr al-Nimr’s execution broke into the embassy building, smashed furniture and started fires before being ejected by police. “The only thing he did was public criticism”.

The Saudi Arabian embassy was ransacked in the Iranian capital of Tehran, which is a predominantly Shiite country and one of the most vocal supporters of Shia followers globally.

The United States on Sunday urged Mideast leaders to take measures to soothe tensions in the region after Saudi Arabia executed a Shiite cleric, provoking outrage from Iran.

Al-Nimr was an outspoken critic of Saudi Arabia’s Sunni monarchy but denied ever calling for violence.

Human rights organisations including Amnesty International condemned the execution, labeling it as part of a systematic effort by the majority Sunni government to “crush Shia voices”. Iran’s semi-official ISNA news agency quoted Tehran prosecutor Abbas Jafari Dowlatabadi announcing the arrests Sunday.

“There is huge popular pressure on the government to punish those people”, said Mustafa Alani, a security analyst close to the Saudi Interior Ministry.

His execution, along with other Shiite activists and Sunnis accused of involvement in Al-Qaeda attacks, sparked demonstrations in Iran, Iraq and Bahrain as well as among Shiites in Saudi Arabia’s oil-rich Eastern Province.

Dean, however, says that executing Nimr was “the least bad option for the Saudi government”.

Authorities had told demonstrators not to protest in front of the embassy and instead gather at a square in central Tehran.

Tehran authorities could not be immediately reached for comment about the apparent name change for the street. Al-Nimr’s execution drew protests from Shiites around the world, who backed his call for reform and wider political freedom for their sect. In January a year ago, when Salman became King, Dean predicted that “Saudi Arabia is likely to take a firmer, more combative position towards Iran and Iranian proxies in the region”.

Al-Jubeir told a news conference in Riyadh that the Iranian regime has “a long record of violations of foreign diplomatic missions”, dating back to the occupation of the U.S. Embassy in 1979, and such incidents constitute “a flagrant violation of all global agreements”, according to the official Saudi Press Agency.

However, Saturday’s execution of a cleric whose death Iran had warned would “cost Saudi Arabia dearly”, and the storming of the kingdom’s Tehran embassy, raised the pitch of the rivalry.

Another Saudi embassy at risk is the one in Baghdad, which only opened for the first time in decades last week, and which several high-profile Iraqis are demanding be immediately closed in protest. On Saturday there were calls for the embassy to be shut down again.

However, al-Nimr’s brother Mohammed al-Nimr has asked that any reaction to the execution be peaceful.

It exposed the sectarian divisions gripping the region and also illustrated the kingdom’s new aggressiveness under King Salman.

Al-Ghayadh also added that the Providence of the Jurist, which was called for by Nimr al-Nimr and was punished for, resembles the Muslim Brotherhood calling for the adviser, and in both cases Saudi Arabia classifies them as extremist movements.