Saudi severs ties with Iran

PROTEST IN TEHRAN A Shiite cleric addresses a crowd during a demonstration in front of the Saudi Arabia Embassy to protest Saudi Arabia’s execution of Shiite cleric Sheikh Nimr al-Nimr. Saudi Arabia, which is a Sunni country, announced the execution of al-Nimr and 46 others on Saturday. AP

RIYADH—Saudi Arabia broke off diplomatic ties with Iran on Sunday after protesters ransacked its embassy in Tehran to protest the Saudi execution of a Shiite cleric whose killing has sparked fury.

Oil prices rose in Asia following the announcement of the decision by crude kingpin producer Saudi Arabia at a time when fellow oil powers are struggling with a plunge in crude prices to their lowest levels in over a decade. But experts believe the current supply glut would likely restrict any sharp price upswings.

Fearing further upheaval in the volatile Middle East where more than 2 million Filipinos are working, the Philippine government said it was closely monitoring the situation in Saudi Arabia and Iran. (See story on this page.)

Saudi Foreign Minister Adel al-Jubeir made the announcement at a news conference in Riyadh, and said Iranian diplomats had 48 hours to leave the kingdom.

The diplomatic fallout came as Iran’s supreme leader said Saudi Arabia would face “quick consequences” for executing Sheikh Nimr al-Nimr, and as the United States urged regional leaders to soothe escalating sectarian tensions between Sunni and Shiite Muslims.

Saudi Arabia “is breaking off diplomatic ties with Iran and requests that all members of the Iranian diplomatic mission leave … within 48 hours,” Jubeir said.

“Iran’s history is full of negative interference and hostility in Arab issues, and it is always accompanied by destruction,” he said, accusing Tehran of seeking to “destabilize” the region.

On Saturday, a mob attacked the Saudi embassy in Tehran and a consulate in the second city of Mashhad amid protests at Nimr’s execution.

Jubeir said Saudi authorities had asked their Iranian counterparts to ensure security at the embassy but they did not cooperate and failed to protect it.

‘Unjustly spilt blood’

Nimr, 56, was a force behind 2011 antigovernment protests in oil-rich eastern Saudi Arabia, where Shiites have long complained of marginalization.

He was put to death along with 46 other people, including Shiite activists and convicted Sunni militants who the Saudi interior ministry says were involved in al-Qaida attacks that killed dozens in 2003 and 2004.

Some were beheaded and others were shot by firing squad.

Iran has said it arrested 44 people over the embassy attacks, and President Hassan Rouhani said the demonstrators were “radicals” and the assaults “totally unjustifiable.”

Iran’s supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, meanwhile, condemned Nimr’s execution, saying “God will not forgive” Saudi Arabia for putting him to death.

“The unjustly spilt blood of this martyr will have quick consequences,” he said, adding “It will haunt the politicians of this regime.”

Strained relationship

Relations between Sunni-ruled Saudi Arabia and Shiite-ruled Iran have been strained for decades, with Riyadh frequently accusing Tehran of interfering in Arab affairs.

The two countries have also been divided over the nearly five-year war in Syria, where Iran is backing the regime, and the conflict in Yemen where a Saudi-led coalition is battling Shiite rebels.

Khamenei was joined in his condemnation of Nimr’s execution by Iraq’s top Shiite authority, Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani, who called the death sentence “an unjust act of aggression.”

Their comments, echoed by other regional religious and political leaders, came as protests in Iran on Sunday spread to Bahrain, Pakistan, Indian Kashmir and Lebanon.

‘Instigator of sedition’

Saudi Arabia branded Nimr an “instigator of sedition” and arrested him in 2012, after a video on YouTube showed him making a speech celebrating the death of the then interior minister.

Three years earlier, he called for the oil-rich Eastern Province’s Shiite-populated Qatif and Al-Ihsaa governorates to be separated from Saudi Arabia and united with Bahrain.

Demonstrations outside the Saudi embassy and at Palestine Square in Tehran attracted around 1,500 people on Sunday, with chants of “Death to the House of Saud.”

“His death will start a revolution which hopefully will lead to the fall of the Saudi family,” said Rezvan, a 26-year-old in a traditional black chador who declined to give her last name.

On Baghdad’s Palestine Street, Iraqi cleric Ahmed al-Shahmani said: “The House of Saud has opened the gates of hell on its own regime.”

In Bahrain, where authorities defended Saudi Arabia along with other Gulf allies of Riyadh, police used buckshot and tear gas against Shiite protesters who threw petrol bombs. Arrests were reported.

Nimr’s execution was widely condemned elsewhere by major Western powers, and the United States on Sunday called on Middle East countries to take “affirmative steps” to calm tensions.

Bodes ill for peacemaking

The cutting of diplomatic ties came at a time when the United States and others had hoped that even limited cooperation between the two powers could help end the crushing civil wars in Syria and Yemen while easing tensions in Iraq, Bahrain, Lebanon and elsewhere.

Instead, analysts feared it would increase sectarian divisions and investment in proxy wars. “This is a very disturbing escalation,” said Michael Stephens, an analyst at the Royal United Services Institute, a research center based in London.

“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 will continue,” said Stephens.

US officials have said the Saudi-Iranian split does not bode well for international peacemaking efforts that require the two powers to make compromises.

The United States called for dialogue, with the US State Department spokesperson, John Kirby, saying, “We believe that diplomatic engagement and direct conversations remain essential in working through differences and we will continue to urge leaders across the region to take affirmative steps to calm tensions.”

Secretary of State John Kerry, from his home in Idaho, spoke on Sunday with Iran’s foreign minister, Mohammed Javad Zarif. The two have a close relationship, developed while negotiating the Iranian nuclear accord. Officials would not describe the contents of the call, but it was clearly an effort to urge the Iranians not to escalate the situation further by retaliating.

Lowest point

Still, the prospects for accommodation appeared to have reached their lowest point in years. Saudi Arabia and Iran follow separate strands of Islam and have long been rivals for influence across the Middle East and beyond. That has accelerated in recent years as the Iraq war and the Arab Spring uprisings upturned the regional order and gave both nations new ways to extend their reach.

That put them on opposite sides of various conflicts, often divided by sect. In Bahrain, Saudi Arabia sent tanks to support the Sunni monarchy against protesters led by the island nation’s Shiite majority. In Syria, Iran has bankrolled the government of President Bashar al-Assad while Saudi Arabia has supported Sunni rebels seeking his ouster. And in Yemen, Saudi Arabia has led an air campaign against Shiite Houthi rebels.

Further straining tensions are Saudi concerns that the Iranian nuclear agreement could increase Tehran’s ability to spread its influence. And Iran remains angry over Saudi Arabia’s handling of a stampede during the hajj in September that left more than 2,400 pilgrims dead, including more than 450 Iranians, according to a count by The Associated Press.

Oil prices rise

At around 0610 GMT, US benchmark West Texas Intermediate for delivery in February was up 77 cents, or 2.08 percent, at $37.81. Brent crude for February was trading 91 cents, or 2.44 percent, higher at $38.19.

“Oil started the new year on the mend, as Asian markets reacted to fears that geopolitical tensions in the Middle East may threaten the supply of oil,” said Bernard Aw, market strategist at IG Markets in Singapore.

Despite the rise, Aw said, the persistent global crude oversupply would continue to weigh on prices over the longer term.

“Unless we see a convincing drop in oil output from these two nations, and the broader oil-producing community, the supply glut issue will persist, which means oil prices would remain under pressure for a longer period,” he told Agence France-Presse.

Sanjeev Gupta, head of the Asia Pacific oil and gas practice at professional services firm EY, said “continued adverse news involving the Middle East region could result in spike in prices, at least in the short term.”

Saudi Arabia is the biggest producer in the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (Opec), which last month decided against cutting output levels despite a plunge in oil prices. Iran is also a key Opec member.

Soaring mass executions

Executions have soared in Saudi Arabia since King Salman ascended the throne a year ago with 153 people put to death in 2015, nearly twice as many as in 2014, for crimes ranging from murder to drug trafficking, armed robbery, rape and apostasy.

Human Rights Watch said the mass execution was the largest since 1980, when 68 militants who had seized Mecca’s Grand Mosque were beheaded, and called it a “shameful start to 2016.”

Amnesty International said Saudi Arabia was using Nimr’s execution “to settle political scores.” But on Sunday Jubeir said those executed had received “fair and transparent” trials and were convicted of carrying out “terrorist operations that led to the deaths of innocents.” Reports from the wires