Riyadh
(AFP) --- Tensions between Saudi Arabia and Iran erupted into a
full-blown diplomatic crisis on Monday as Riyadh and its Sunni Arab
allies cut or reduced ties with Tehran, sparking global concern.
Following
angry exchanges over Saudi Arabia's execution Saturday of prominent
Shiite cleric and activist Sheikh Nimr al-Nimr, Riyadh and then
Bahrain and Sudan severed their relations with Tehran, the main
Shiite power.
As
international worries grew, US Secretary of State John Kerry called
his Iranian and Saudi Arabian counterparts, US officials said.
"We
are urging calm and de-escalation. The situation needs to be calmed,"
one official told AFP.
London,
Paris and Berlin also expressed concerns, amid fears the dispute
could derail efforts to resolve conflicts across the Middle East,
from Syria to Yemen.
Moscow
offered to act as an intermediary and the UN envoy for Syria was
headed to Riyadh and Tehran in a bid to defuse tensions.
The
crisis has also raised fears of an increase in sectarian violence,
including in Iraq where two Sunni mosques were blown up overnight and
two people killed.
Saudi
Arabia cut ties with Iran late on Sunday, giving diplomats 48 hours
to leave the country, after protesters set fire to its embassy in
Tehran and a consulate in second city Mashhad.
Bahrain
and Sudan followed suit on Monday, and the United Arab Emirates also
downgraded its ties, recalling its envoy from Tehran.
Sunni
Arab nations accused Tehran of repeatedly meddling in their affairs,
with Saudi Foreign Minister Adel al-Jubeir saying "Iran's
history is full of negative interference and hostility in Arab
issues".
Bahrain
accused Iran of "increasing flagrant and dangerous meddling"
in Gulf and Arab states, while the UAE said Iranian interference had
reached "unprecedented levels".
Some
80 Saudis, including diplomats and their families, had already left
Iran and arrived in Dubai on Monday, diplomatic sources said.
The
Saudi civil aviation authority said that as part of the cut in ties
all flights to and from Iran were being suspended.
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'Hugely concerning' -
Protesters in Tehran, Iran |
Iranian
officials denounced the Saudi moves as tactics that would inflame
regional tensions.
"Saudi
Arabia sees not only its interests but also its existence in pursuing
crises and confrontations and (it) attempts to resolve its internal
problems by exporting them to the outside," foreign ministry
spokesman Hossein Jaber Ansari said.
Iran
and Saudi Arabia are on opposing ends of a range of crucial issues in
the Middle East, including the war in Syria -- where Tehran backs
President Bashar al-Assad's regime and Riyadh supports rebel forces
-- and Yemen where a Saudi-led coalition is battling Shiite
insurgents.
The
UN peace envoy for Syria, Staffan de Mistura, was due in Riyadh later
Monday for talks aimed at defusing tensions, ahead of a visit to
Iran, the UN spokesman said.
The
spike in tensions comes after Iran last year secured a historic
nuclear deal with world powers led by the United States, sparking
major concern in Riyadh, a longtime US ally.
The
Cairo-based Arab League said it would hold an emergency meeting at
Riyadh's request on Sunday to discuss the attacks on Saudi diplomatic
premises and alleged Iranian interference.
British
Prime Minister David Cameron said the tensions were "hugely
concerning", Germany expressed its "dismay" and called
for the restoration of diplomatic ties, and France urged a
"de-escalation of tensions".
Oil
prices rose on fears of Middle East instability, with US benchmark
West Texas Intermediate climbing 30 cents to $37.34 a barrel.
Gulf
stocks tumbled, with six of the region's seven exchanges down and the
Saudi Tadaul All-Shares Index falling by 2.36 percent.
Iran's
President Hassan Rouhani, a moderate, on Sunday criticised those who
attacked the diplomatic buildings, calling them radicals, and 50
suspects were arrested.
But
the country's supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei warned Riyadh its
rulers would face "quick consequences" for executing Nimr.
Some
3,000 demonstrators gathered for a new rally in Tehran on Monday,
chanting anti-Saudi slogans and burning US and Israeli flags.
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Blasts, protests in Iraq -
Protesters in Basra, Iraq |
In
Shiite-majority Iraq, top cleric Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani
called Nimr's execution "an unjust act of aggression", and
on Monday blasts rocked two Sunni mosques in the centre of the
country, wounding at least three people.
A
man living at one of the mosques in the town of Hilla was shot dead
by unidentified gunmen and a Sunni muezzin -- who recites the Muslim
call to prayer -- was shot dead near his home in the city of
Iskandariyah, security sources said.
Prime
Minister Haider al-Abadi said security forces were tracking down the
perpetrators "who targeted mosques to sow sedition and undermine
national unity".
Thousands
of protesters rallied against Saudi Arabia in the Iraqi capital,
demanding that Baghdad sever relations with Riyadh.
The
56-year-old Nimr was a force behind 2011 anti-government protests in
eastern Saudi Arabia, where Shiites have long complained of
marginalisation.
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