Saudi Arabia cuts ties with Iran

TEHRAN, Iran (AP) – Saudi Arabia has severed diplomatic ties with regional rival Iran following attacks on the kingdom’s embassy and consulate in the Islamic Republic over the execution of a prominent Shiite cleric. In Shiite-dominated Iran, angry protesters set fires and destroyed documents at the Saudi Embassy in the capital Tehran before security forces restored order Sunday, Iran’s ISNA news agency said.

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

His killing comes amid a proxy war between Saudi Arabia and Iran in Syria and Yemen, which dates back to Iran’s 1979 Islamic Revolution and the ensuing struggle for regional hegemony between Riyadh and Tehran.

Saudi Arabia, while spending tens of billions on U.S. weaponry in recent years, fears the US-led deal with Iran on nuclear weapons could lead Tehran to increase its influence in the region.

The European Union, which opposes the death penalty, said that Nimr’s execution in particular “raises serious concerns regarding freedom of expression and the respect of basic civil and political rights”.

The announcement on Saturday of the execution of 47 alleged terrorists, including Sheikh Nimr al-Nimr, prompted an worldwide outcry, and sparked protests in Shia-dominated Iran, where the Saudi embassy was stormed.

He also said Nimr “neither encouraged people into armed action nor secretly conspired for plots, but the only thing he did was utter public criticism rising from his religious zeal”.

Saudi Arabia, in announcing its move late Sunday, also gave Iranian diplomats two days to leave.

Deputy Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian said Saudi Arabia has fueled tensions in the region by making strategic mistakes as well as taking hasty and imprudent approaches.

Qatif has been the focal point of unrest among Saudi Arabia’s Shia minority since protests in early 2011 calling for an end to discrimination against the minority sect and for democratic reforms in the Sunni monarchy.

While the demonstrations in Tehran were the biggest, many Shiite Muslims in countries like Bahrain, Lebanon and Afghanistan took to the streets to voice their displeasure with the executions.

Overseas to growing tensions between two Muslim giants in the middle east. Tonight, Saudi Arabia has severed tied with Iran.

Share markets were also rattled by rising tensions after Saudi Arabia executed a Shia cleric, and the price of gold rose 1%.

A Saudi Justice Ministry spokesman told the BBC: “As a judicial power or judicial branch, we execute, or we apply, Sharia law according to the facts we see in front of us, irrespective of other influences, and that is what the judges are qualified on”.

Protesters holding poster of Saudi Shi’ite cleric Nimr al-Nimr protest against his execution by … On Saturday there were calls for the embassy to be shut down again. The sheikh’s brother, Mohammed al-Nimr, told The Associated Press that Saudi officials informed his family that the cleric had been buried in an undisclosed cemetery, a development that could lead to further protests.