BAGHDAD — Saudi Arabia cut diplomatic ties with Iran Sunday and gave Iranian diplomats 48 hours to leave the kingdom, intensifying a strategic and sectarian rivalry that underpins conflicts across the Middle East.
BAGHDAD — Saudi Arabia cut diplomatic ties with Iran Sunday and gave Iranian diplomats 48 hours to leave the kingdom, intensifying a strategic and sectarian rivalry that underpins conflicts across the Middle East.
The surprise move, announced in a news conference by Adel al-Jubeir, the Saudi foreign minister, followed harsh criticism by Iranian leaders of the execution of an outspoken Shiite cleric, Sheikh Nimr al-Nimr, in Saudi Arabia and the storming of the Saudi Embassy in Tehran by protesters in response.
“This is a very disturbing escalation,” said Michael Stephens, an analyst at the Royal United Services Institute research center. “It has enormous consequences for the people of the region, and the tensions between the two sides are going to mean that instability across the region is going to continue.”
The supreme leader of Iran, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, warned Saturday that Saudi Arabia would face divine vengeance for the execution of al-Nimr, a day after Iranian protesters ransacked the Saudi Embassy in Tehran. Saudi Arabia, which put the cleric to death in a mass execution of 47 men accused of terrorism-related offenses, fired back, saying Iran had “revealed its true face represented in support for terrorism.”
Setting off this round of recriminations was the Saudis’ execution Saturday of al-Nimr, a Shiite cleric from eastern Saudi Arabia who often criticized the Saudi royal family and called for Shiite empowerment. Al-Nimr had become a leader in Shiite protests, and the government accused him of inciting violence.
Most of the reaction to the execution in the region broke cleanly along sectarian lines, with Shiite leaders in Iraq, Yemen, Lebanon and elsewhere criticizing the Saudis for killing a man they called a peaceful dissident while Saudi Arabia’s Sunni allies applauded what they called the country’s efforts to fight terrorism.
Most of those executed had been convicted of being involved with al-Qaida in a wave of deadly attacks in the kingdom a decade ago and included prominent leaders and ideologues. Four, including al-Nimr, were Shiites accused of participating in violent demonstrations in which demonstrators and police were killed.
Ban Ki-moon, the United Nations secretary-general, said Saturday that he was “deeply dismayed” by the execution of al-Nimr and the other men.
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