Saudi Arabia cut ties with Iran late yesterday night, giving diplomats 48 hours to leave the country, after protesters set fire to its embassy in Tehran and a consulate in second city Mashhad.
Tensions began to rise between the two countries when Saudi Arabia and its allies cut diplomatic ties with Tehran in a row over the execution of a Shiite cleric.
The execution of Sheikh Nimr al-Nimr erupted into a full-blown diplomatic crisis as Riyadh and then Bahrain and Sudan severed their relations with Tehran, the main Shiite power.
The United States and other Western nations urged calm, amid fears the dispute could derail efforts to resolve conflicts across the Middle East, from Syria to Yemen.
It has also raised concerns of an increase in sectarian violence, including in Iraq where two Sunni mosques were blown up overnight.
Bahrain and Sudan followed suit today by leaving Iran, as Moscow offered to act as an intermediary between Riyadh and Tehran.
The United Arab Emirates also downgraded its ties, recalling its envoy from Tehran and reducing the number of its diplomats in the country.
Sunni Arab nations accused Tehran of repeatedly meddling in their affairs, with Saudi Foreign Minister Adel al-Jubeir saying “Iran’s history is full of negative interference and hostility in Arab issues”.
Bahrain accused Iran of “increasing flagrant and dangerous meddling” in Gulf and Arab states, while the UAE said Iranian interference had reached “unprecedented levels”.
Iranian officials denounced the Saudi move as a tactic that would inflame regional tensions.
“Saudi Arabia sees not only its interests but also its existence in pursuing crises and confrontations and (it) attempts to resolve its internal problems by exporting them to the outside,” foreign ministry spokesman, Hossein Jaber Ansari said. [myad]
