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UP FRONTWednesday 6 January 2016
Iran criticizes Saudi Arabia on severing ties Iraq must walk a fine line
ALI DAREINI ly, such actions can’t cover its consulate in Mashhad. amid Iran, Saudi tensions
JON GAMBRELL up that big crime.” Late Sunday, Saudi Arabia
Associated Press Iran’s Vice President Mo- announced it was severing SUSANNAH GEORGE
TEHRAN, Iran (AP) — Iran’s hammad Bagher Nobakht, relations with Iran because Associated Press
president said on Tuesday addressing journalists Tues- of the assaults, giving Irani- BAGHDAD (AP) — While many Iraqi Shiites took to the
that Saudi Arabia cannot day, said the country’s in- an diplomatic personnel 48 streets in outrage over Saudi Arabia’s execution of a
“cover up” its crime of exe- telligence services were in- hours to leave. prominent Shiite cleric, the country’s prime minister
has had to walk a more cautious line, trying to contain
Iran’s President Hassan Rouhani sits during a meeting with Danish Foreign Minister Kristian Jensen Iraq’s own explosive sectarian tensions.
in Tehran, Iran, Tuesday, Jan. 5, 2016. Iran’s president said on Tuesday that Saudi Arabia cannot The execution of Sheikh Nimr al-Nimr has inflamed the
“cover up” its crime of executing a leading Shiite cleric by severing diplomatic relations with the sectarian divide across the region. Shiite-led Iran has
Islamic Republic, even as the kingdom’s allies began limiting their links to his country. been the most vocal in its condemnation, and protest-
ers stormed Saudi diplomatic missions in Iran over the
(Iranian Presidency Office via AP) weekend. That prompted Sunni-led Saudi Arabia to
cut diplomatic relations with Iran, and the kingdom’s
cuting a leading Shiite cler- vestigating the diplomatic Sudan and the tiny island allies have lined up behind it, either cutting or reduc-
ic by severing diplomatic mission attacks and that kingdom of Bahrain said ing their ties with Tehran.
relations with the Islamic police officers who failed Monday they would sever The government of Iraq, however, is straining to keep
Republic, even as the king- to take action to stop the ties with Iran The United the peace amid the regional tumult. Iran is a key ally
dom’s allies began limiting assaults would be pros- Arab Emirates announced of the Shiite-led government in Baghdad, has helped
their links to his country. ecuted. Iranian police say it would downgrade ties to it in the fight against the Islamic State group, and sup-
President Hassan Rouhani’s at least 50 people already Tehran to the level of the ports powerful Shiite militias in the country.
comments came as Kuwait have been arrested over charge d’affaires, while At the same time, as the fight against IS extremists en-
announced it had recalled the attack. The diplomatic other nations issued state- ters its second year, Iraq is grappling with the worst po-
its ambassador to Iran over standoff between Iran and ments criticizing Iran. litical and security crises since the withdrawal of U.S.
attacks on Saudi diplomat- the kingdom began Satur- On Tuesday, Kuwait an- troops in 2011. Only last week, Saudi Arabia sent an
ic missions in the Islamic Re- day, when Saudi Arabia ex- nounced the recalling of its ambassador to Baghdad for the first time in 25 years to
public. The execution last ecuted Shiite cleric Sheikh ambassador in a statement try to improve its relationship with Iraq.
weekend of Sheikh Nimr Nimr al-Nimr and 46 others carried on the state-run Ku- In a sign of the government’s caution, Prime Minister
al-Nimr, a Shiite cleric and convicted of terror charg- wait News Agency. How- Haider al-Abadi issued a statement expressing regret
opposition figure in Saudi es — the largest mass ex- ever, Kuwait did not say it over al-Nimr’s execution and warning that such ac-
Arabia, has heightened ecution carried out by the would sever its ties to Iran tions would “bring more destruction and devastation.”
the Saudi-Iran regional ri- kingdom since 1980. It’s not over the tensions. His office followed that Tuesday with a call for unity
valry, threatening to derail clear whether al-Nimr was Tiny Kuwait is home to both among Iraqis. Regional tensions should be faced
already shaky peace ef- beheaded with a sword, Shiites and Sunnis living in “wisely, responsibly and rationally in order to preserve
forts over the wars in Syria though Saudis routinely use peace and has the most the security and stability of Iraq,” according to a state-
and Yemen. that form of execution. free-wheeling political sys- ment from al-Abadi’s office.
A statement posted on his Al-Nimr, a central figure in tem among all Gulf nations. A day earlier, thousands of Shiites gathered a few
official website said Rou- the Arab Spring-inspired Meanwhile Tuesday after- hundred meters (yards) from his office and called for
hani discussed the current protests by Saudi Arabia’s noon, hundreds of Shiite the government to sever diplomatic ties with Riyadh.
diplomatic dispute with vis- Shiite minority, was execut- protesters marched in Sitra, The protesters, supporters of prominent Shiite cleric
iting Danish Foreign Minister ed after being convicted south of Bahrain’s capital, Muqtada al-Sadr, chanted that al-Nimr’s blood had
Kristian Jensen. of sedition and of other Manama, over al-Nimr’s not been spilled in vain and that the Mahdi Army, Sa-
“The Saudi government crimes, though he long de- execution. An Associated dr’s disbanded Shiite militia, would avenge his death
has taken a strange action nied advocating violence. Press journalist saw police if needed.
and cut off its diplomatic News of his execution has fire tear gas and bird shot, That points to the government’s bigger fear: That the
relations with the Islamic sparked Shiite protests from while some protesters threw regional dispute over al-Nimr’s execution will turn into
Republic of Iran to cover its Bahrain to Pakistan. gasoline bombs. A num- new violence between Iraq’s Shiites and Sunnis.
crimes of beheading a reli- In Iran, protesters respond- ber of protesters suffered Sectarian violence has quickly spiraled out of control
gious leader in its country,” ed by attacking the Saudi wounds from the birdshot. in Iraq in the recent past, and a renewed form could
Rouhani said. “Undoubted- Embassy in Tehran and q disrupt Baghdad’s campaign against the Islamic State
group, the Sunni extremists who control large parts of
the north and west of the country.
Iranian-backed Shiite militias, whose might rivals that
of the military and security forces, have been a major
factor in the fight, and the government has already
had to cede them considerable authority. At the
same time, al-Abadi has sought to encourage recon-
ciliation with the Sunni minority, among whom hatred
of the militias is strong, and include Sunnis in the fight
against IS. “This is the last thing (al-Abadi) needs after
the high point in Ramadi,” said Kirk Sowell, publisher of
the Inside Iraqi Politics newsletter, referring to the re-
cent government victory pushing IS fighters out of the
western Iraqi city.
While al-Nimr’s execution is unlikely to change Iraq-
Saudi policy in any meaningful way, it does have the
potential to set off violence in Iraq, Sowell said.
Two Sunni mosques were attacked in the southern
town of Hilla in apparent retaliation for the execution,
but al-Abadi was quick to blame IS and order a build-
up of security in the province.q
