Saudi cutting ties will not hurt Iran: Govt spokesman

Bahrain and the United Arab Emirates both curtailed Iranian diplomatic presence in their countries on Monday, with Manama ordering Tehran’s diplomats out of Bahrain within 48 hours.

He added, “If they do so, we will of course have normal relations with Iran”.

“We will not allow Iran to destabilise our region”.

The tiny island kingdom of Bahrain announced it would sever its ties completely from Iran, as Saudi Arabia did late on Sunday.

Saudi Foreign Minister Adel al-Jubeir told Reuters in an interview on Monday that it had halted trade and flights with Iran as part of a diplomatic response to Iranian protesters storming the kingdom’s embassy in Tehran after the execution of a prominent Shi’ite cleric. But Saudi diplomats had already departed Iran after angry crowds ransacked and burned the Saudi Embassy in Tehran overnight Saturday, in retaliation for the execution of Nimr.

The United Arab Emirates (UAE), home to hundreds of thousands of Iranians, partially downgraded its relations but the other Gulf Arab countries – Kuwait, Qatar and Oman – stayed above the fray. The Arab League called an emergency meeting of foreign ministers for January 10 to discuss the attack on the Saudi Embassy and other Iranian “interference in Arab affairs”.

On opposite sides of the Sunni-Shiite faultline in Islam, Iran and Saudi Arabia are also key players in the Syrian conflict, respectively backing or opposing the regime in Damascus.

“Our country is concerned about deterioration in relations between some Arab states, including Saudi Arabia, and Iran”, Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga said Tuesday, referring to Japan’s heavy dependence on the region for its oil supply.

“The downgrading of ties is not fundamentally a question of responding to executions and the storming of an embassy…”

“For the sake of stability in the Middle East region, we would like to call on all parties involved to exercise restraint, de-escalate the situation through dialogue and resolve the issue peacefully”, Suga said at a news conference.

And the latest escalation of tensions between Iran and Saudi Arabia is likely to spill over into the Syria talks, making prospects for a ceasefire even more remote, according to analysts who follow the region. “We don’t need more worries about what’s going on in the Middle East”. “They have to work this out between themselves if a solution to this tension is going to be long-lasting and sustainable”. “I mean, it’s quite clear they stood back and watched it happen”.

Stock markets across the Gulf dropped sharply, led by Qatar which fell more than 2.5 percent, with geopolitical jitters outweighing any benefit from stronger oil. However, officials said the administration is loath to insert itself but wants to ensure the viability of the fight against the Islamic State group in Iraq and Syria, nascent attempts to end Syria’s civil war, peace efforts in Yemen and the Iran nuclear deal.

“He’s not very well known in the Shiite world”, he said.

“Saudi Arabia is a police state”, Elmenyawi said.

But analysts said fears of a sectarian rupture across the Middle East were premature, and the break in Saudi-Iran relations could be more a symptom of existing strains than evidence of new ones. Investment ties are also minimal, though Saudi food conglomerate Savola has major manufacturing operations in Iran.

Meanwhile, al-Nimr’s family is holding three days of mourning at a mosque in al-Awamiya village in the kingdom’s al-Qatif region in predominantly Shiite eastern Saudi Arabia.

Shi’ite groups united in condemnation of Saudi Arabia while Sunni powers rallied behind the kingdom, hardening a sectarian split that has torn apart communities across the Middle East and nourished the jihadist ideology of Islamic State.

After the execution of Nimr, Iran’s Revolutionary Guard elite military force said a “harsh revenge” would strike Saudi’s ruling Al Saud family in the near future.