Saudi Arabia announces it is severing ties with Iran

Saudi Foreign Minister Adel al-Jubeir announced the cut in relations late on Sunday and gave Iranian diplomatic personnel 48 hours to leave his country.

But on Sunday Jubeir said those executed had received “fair and transparent” trials and were convicted of carrying out “terrorist operations that led to the deaths of innocents”. Iran’s hardline Revolutionary Guards had promised “harsh revenge” against the Saudi royal dynasty for Saturday’s execution of Nimr who is considered a terrorist by Riyadh but hailed in Iran as a champion of the rights of Saudi Arabia’s Shia minority. Al-Nimr had become a leader in Shiite protests, and the government accused him of inciting violence.

Iran is majority-Shiite Muslim, while Saudi Arabia is majority Sunni.

It’s feared the diplomatic rupture between Sunni-ruled Saudi Arabia and Shia-ruled Iran may snowball across the Middle East where the two powers back opposing sides in many destructive wars.

Strong rhetoric from Tehran was matched by Iran’s Shiite allies across the region, with Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah, the head of Lebanese militia Hizbollah, describing the execution as “a message of blood”.

The Iranian official also added that the wisdom of Abdul-Malik Badreddin al-Houthi, leader of Yemen’s Justice Movement, is exemplary in the region and the Islamic world.

Nimr spent more than a decade studying theology in predominantly Shia Iran.

“The only thing he did was public criticism”, Khamenei said.

Iran and Saudi have been vying for leadership in the Muslim world since Iran’s 1979 revolution, which elevated to power hard-line Shiite clerics.

Bahrain on Sunday “strongly condemned” the attacks on the Saudi Arabian embassy in Tehran, urging Iran to abide by diplomatic measures and control the protesters.

People made their way into the Saudi embassy and trashed the ground floor of the building, tearing apart Saudi flags, furniture and documents, setting fires and throwing papers from the roof as an act of protest. No serious injuries were reported, officials said.

European Union states, in a joint statement on Saturday, said al-Nimr’s killing “raises serious concerns regarding freedom of expression and the respect of basic civil and political rights”.

Hundreds of protesters later demonstrated in front of the embassy and in a central Tehran square, where street signs near the embassy were replaced with ones bearing the slain sheikh’s name.

The disruption in relations between Saudi Arabia and Iran may have implications for peace efforts in Syria.

The Obama administration urged “diplomatic engagement” between the countries.

“Saudi Arabia, which thrives on tensions, has used this incident as an excuse to fuel the tensions”, ministry spokesman Hossein Jaberi Ansari said in televised remarks. The police were forced to use tear gas to disperse the protesters.

In comments Sunday, Rohani also condemned the execution of al-Nimr.

Saudi Arabia said on Sunday it had severed ties with Iran over the storming of its embassy. On Saturday there were calls for the embassy to be shut down again.

Numerous men executed had been linked to attacks in Saudi Arabia between 2003 and 2006, blamed on al-Qaeda.