Saudi Arabia Severs Ties with Iran in Hasty Move; White House Encourages Engagement

Saudi Arabia cut ties with Iran on Sunday, responding to the storming of its embassy in Tehran over Riyadh's execution of a Shi'ite Muslim cleric, Reuters reported.

Saudi Foreign Minister Adel al-Jubeir told a news conference in Riyadh that Iran’s envoy had been asked to leave Saudi Arabia within 48 hours. The Kingdom, he said, would not allow the Islamic Republic to undermine its security.

Jubeir said the attack in Tehran was in line with what he said were earlier Iranian assaults on foreign embassies there and with Iranian policies of destabilizing the region by creating "terrorist cells" in Saudi Arabia.

"The Kingdom, in light of these realities, announces the cutting of diplomatic relations with Iran and requests the departure of delegates of diplomatic missions of the embassy and consulate and offices related to it within 48 hours. The ambassador has been summoned to notify them," he said.

Speaking on Iranian state television, Deputy Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian said in Tehran's first response that by cutting diplomatic ties, Riyadh could not cover up "its major mistake of executing Sheikh Nimr.”

He noted that no Saudi diplomats were harmed during the protests held in Tehran and Mashhad and that “Iran is one of the safest countries in the region” where diplomats are carrying out their responsibilities.

Amir-Abdollahian asserted that this is not the first time Saudi Arabia has threatened regional security with its “strategic errors” and “hasty approaches.”

By plotting to reduce the price of crude oil, Saudi Arabia is harming its own people and the people of other Muslim countries in the region, he added.

Iranian officials, including President Hassan Rouhani and Foreign Minister Javad Zarif, yesterday called the protests in front of the Saudi embassy in Tehran against the law and stressed Iran’s commitment to protect diplomatic sites. Forty protesters have so far been arrested for storming the embassy late Saturday night.

The United States responded by encouraging diplomatic engagement and calling for leaders in the region to take "affirmative steps" to reduce tensions.

"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," an official of President Barack Obama's administration said, according to Reuters.

Iranian media are reporting that Saudi Arabia’s Ministry of Commerce and Industry has issued a ban on Iranian products.

Iran claims over 800 thousand of its nationals visit Saudi Arabia in the Umrah and Hajj pilgrimages each year, earning about $5 billion for the kingdom. Iran suspended permissions for the Umrah, which accounts for 90 percent of the pilgrimages, after a decree issued by President Hassan Rouhani in April over sexual harassment of two Iranian teenage boys by Saudi officers at the King Abdulaziz International Airport in Jeddah. The Mina disaster later on 24 September 2015, in which Iran was the most severely hit with over 400 casualties, dimmed hopes of resumption. The recent tensions that have led to the cutting of diplomatic relations are expected to leave no hope in the near term.

Oil prices jumped more than 3% in early Asia trade Monday as political tension between Saudi Arabia and Iran “stoked fears of a possible disruption to crude supplies,” the Wall Street Journal reported.