Yesterday Saudi Arabia terminated diplomatic relations with Iran. According to the Foreign Minister of the Kingdom, the reason for this decision was the Saturday attack on the Saudi embassy. Today Bahrain and Sudan also declared the termination of diplomatic relations with Iran.
Recall that on January 2 a crowd of Iranian demonstrators protested against the execution in Saudi Arabia of Sheikh Nimr al-Nimr, who was detained by the authorities of Saudi Arabia in 2012 after protests in the east of the country and sentenced to death on charges of inciting hatred, disobedience to the king and the establishment of a terrorist cell with the aim of attacking law enforcement personnel in 2014, and caused material damage to diplomatic missions in Tehran. The Iranian police forced the demonstrators to leave the diplomatic missions peacefully. None of the Saudi diplomats were injured.
The Kingdom of Bahrain also decided to break off diplomatic relations with Iran, the Foreign Ministry of the country announced today. The reason for this decision, as noted by the Foreign Ministry, was "Iran's continuing interference in the internal affairs of the kingdom and the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC)."
Sudan declared Iran's ambassador persona non grata. The country decided to revoke its diplomatic mission and terminate diplomatic relations with Iran, the statement of the administration of President Omar al-Bashir reports.
"The Republic of Sudan declares the Iranian ambassador to be persona non grata and demanded that all the employees of the diplomatic mission leave the country. It was also decided to withdraw the Sudanese ambassador to Iran," the document informs.
The severance of diplomatic relations between Saudi Arabia and Iran will only lead to increased tension in the region. The step cannot be considered as shrewd, Iranian Deputy Foreign Minister Ibrahim Rahimpur noted.
"The termination of diplomatic relations between Saudi Arabia and Iran will only lead to increased tension in the region. Countries are now trying to normalize relations with Iran, but Riyadh breaks them. This is not a shrewd decision in terms of diplomacy," Tass cites Rahimpur as saying.
According to the diplomat, the execution of Sheikh Al-Nimr will reinforce the split among adherents of different trends in Islam, so phenomena such as the chauvinist policy in the case of the preacher should be avoided.
"Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif held a number of telephone conversations in order to calm the situation down. He confirmed that Iran has a strong position in relation to the problems of the region and stressed the necessity of a diplomatic approach by the country to resolve them," Rahimpur said.
Saudi Arabia is trying to solve domestic problems by breaking off diplomatic relations with Iran, spokesman for the Iranian Foreign Ministry Hossein Jaber Ansari said at a press conference in Tehran.
