Uproar in Middle East after Saudi Arabia executes top Shiite cleric

The escalating spat between Iran and Saudi Arabia could derail all efforts at solving the problem of Syria, German Foreign Minister Frank Walter Steinmeier told BILD in an interview. He expressed a wish that both sides focus urgently on solving their differences and then working together to find political solutions to crises such as Syria and Yemen. The region, he said, requires Tehran and Riyadh to be “responsible players.”

Sudan is also souring relations with Tehran. It has now given Iranian diplomats two weeks to leave the country, AP reports. This comes a day after Khartoum informed Riyadh of its solidarity with Saudi Arabia on the Iranian matter and announced the expulsion of Iran’s ambassador.

Kuwait has become the next Islamic country to renounce ties with Iran after it recalled its ambassador to Tehran, following Iran’s spat with Saudi Arabia.

The US State Department on Monday renewed its call for leaders in the Middle East to try to calm tensions in the region after Saudi Arabia severed diplomatic relations with Iran.

« The United States is concerned about rising tensions in the Middle East… following recent executions in Saudi Arabia, attacks on Saudi diplomatic properties in Iran and the cutting or downgrading by a number of countries of their diplomatic ties [with Iran], » State Department spokesman John Kirby said at his daily briefing.

« We call on all sides to avoid any actions that would further heighten tensions in the region, » it added.

Turkey can’t support the execution of a senior Shia cleric by Saudi Arabia because Ankara opposes capital punishment in general, Turkish government spokesman Numan Kurtulmus said.

« We are against all instances of capital punishment especially when it is politically motivated… For us it is not possible to support capital punishment by any country, » Kurtulmus stated as cited by Reuters.

According to the spokesman, the execution of Sheikh Nimr al-Nimr on Saturday was not conducive to peace in the region.

« But Saudi Arabia and Iran are our friends and we don’t want them fighting because that’s the last thing this region needs, » Kurtulmus added.

UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon told the Saudi foreign minister that the decision to break ties with Tehran was “worrying.”

“The Secretary-General reiterated that the attack on the Saudi embassy in Tehran was deplorable, but added that the announcement of a break in Saudi diplomatic relations with Tehran was deeply worrying,” UN spokesman Stephane Dujarric said.

Saudi Arabia’s General Authority for Civil Aviation has announced a halt to all flights to and from Iran.

« Based on the kingdom’s announcement of the severing of diplomatic relations with Iran, the General Authority for Civil Aviation is halting all flights from and to Iran, » the authority wrote on Twitter.

Germany is planning to reexamine its arms export to Saudi Arabia after the Gulf kingdom executed 47 people, German Economy Minister Sigmar Gabriel said.

« We can see that it was right to neither deliver tanks nor G36 assault rifles to Saudi Arabia, » Gabriel said. « Now we have to review whether we also need to evaluate defensive armaments more critically in the future. »

Hundreds of protesters took to the streets of Baghdad on Monday to condemn the execution of prominent Shiite cleric Sheikh Nimr al-Nimr by Saudi Arabian authorities, Ruptly reports. Scuffles broke out among the protesters in front of police lines in the Iraqi capital.