Saudi Arabia cancels all Iran flights

On Saturday, Saudi Arabia executed dozens of people including prominent Shiite cleric Sheikh Nimr al-Nimr, which triggered an global outcry and sparked protests in Iran among others.

Iran’s “Supreme Leader”, Ayatollah Ali Khamanei, said Saudi Arabia would face divine retribution for putting Al-Nimr to death. Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Hossein Jaber Ansari denounced the Saudi moves as tactics that would inflame regional tensions. He was convicted of terrorism charges but denied advocating violence.

The United Nations Security Council has also condemned the attacks on the Saudi diplomats that saw protestors ransack offices and set them on fire.

“We are a country that abolished the death penalty”.

Egypt cut ties with Iran in 1989. “Iran is a sisterly country, we share history with Iran, we share religion with Iran, we share geography, and we share a common future”.

Iran expressed “regret” over the attacks on the diplomatic missions in a letter to the United Nations on Monday and pledged to arrest those responsible.

On Sunday, Saudi Arabia announced that it would cut diplomatic ties with Iran and ordered all Iranian diplomatic personnel to leave the country.

Saudi Arabia and Iran are on opposite sides of conflicts in Syria and Yemen and rivals for dominance in the Middle East. They are not directly at war, but the diplomatic row that has erupted after the Saudi execution of a leading Shia cleric could easily spiral out of control. The hajj this year likely will begin in early September, though Muslims travel to the holy sites all year long. Iranians, however, would still be able to visit the kingdom for pilgrimages to Mecca. Today Sudan gave Iranian diplomats two weeks to get out.

Asked what steps Iran needed to take before Riyadh would consider restoring diplomatic ties, Jubeir said Tehran must “respect global norms and treaties and conventions” and “act like a normal country [that] respects the territorial integrity of its neighbours”.

However, Jubeir said Saudi Arabia had been right to execute Nimr, whom he accused of “agitating, organising cells, providing them with weapons and money” – allegations that the cleric’s family have denied.

The European Union’s foreign policy chief warned Iran’s foreign minister on Sunday that renewed tension between Iran and Saudi Arabia could wreck efforts to find a political solution for the crisis in Syria.

The disruption in relations may have implications for peace efforts in Syria. It’s not clear whether al-Nimr was beheaded with a sword, though Saudis routinely use that form of execution.

With files from the Associated Press.