Saudi Arabia has broken off diplomatic ties with Iran following an attack on the Kingdom’s embassy in Tehran, inspired by Saudi’s decision to execute 47 men including Shiite cleric Nimr al-Nimr.
Saudi Arabia’s foreign minister Adel al-Jubeir announced the decision to expel Iran’s diplomats following the evacuation of its own diplomatic staff from Iran.
Iran’s diplomats have been given 48 hours to leave Saudi Arabia after the Kingdom’s foreign ministryaccused Iran of failing in itsduty to protect its embassy in Tehran.
A large mob attacked the Saudi embassy in Tehran last night, setting the building on fire with petrol bombs and ransacking items from the Saudi diplomatic offices.
Saudi Arabia claimed Shiite cleric Sheikh Nimr al-Nimr and the other executed prisoners, which include three other Shiite dissidents and a number of al-Qaeda supporters, were all convicted‘terrorists’.
It said Iran had ‘revealed its true face as a supporter of terrorists’ by condemning al-Nimr’s death.
The escalating war of words came after a night of violence in the Iranian capital of Tehran, where a furious mob petrol bombed the Saudi embassy to protest al-Nimr’s killing. At least 40 were arrested on suspicion of attacking and setting fire to the embassy.
Iraq’s former Prime Minister Nouri Al-Maliki warned the executions would ‘topple the Saudi regime’, US and European said they risked ‘exacerbating sectarian tensions’, and UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said he was ‘deeply dismayed’.
Al-Nimr, the most vocal critic of the Saudi dynasty, was the driving force behind the protests which broke out in the east of the country in 2011, where the Shiite minority claims they are fiercely persecuted.
None of the Saudi embassy staff were inside the building when demonstrators broke in and trashed the offices. They forced their way inside where they ransacked rooms, destroyed furniture and started fires before they were ejected by police.
Tehran’s police chief said an unspecified number of ‘unruly elements’ were arrested for attacking the embassy with petrol bombs and rocks overnight.
Iranian President Hassan Rouhani, who condemned al-Nimr’s execution, said the attacks on the embassy were ‘unjustifiable’.
He ordered his Interior Ministry to arrest the attackers, who he described as ‘extremists’, and punish them for ‘such ugly acts’.
Violent demonstrations have also erupted across the Middle Eastern and Gulf countries, including Lebanon, Pakistan and Bahrain, while Muslims in the West have held peaceful marches.
Dailymail