Smoke billowed from the Saudi Embassy in Tehran on Saturday after Iranian protesters entered the building.
Iran’s supreme leader warned Sunday that Saudi Arabia
would face divine vengeance for the execution of an outspoken Shiite
cleric, a day after Iranian protesters ransacked the Saudi Embassy in
Tehran in outrage over the execution.
“God’s
hand of retaliation will grip the neck of Saudi politicians,” said the
supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, in comments reported on his
official website.
Despite
the rhetoric, however, the Iranians seemed to be taking steps to
prevent the dispute from escalating further. Forty Iranians were
arrested on Saturday night for the violence — a sign that the
authorities were trying to keep public outrage from getting out of
control.
Iran’s
president, Hassan Rouhani, on Sunday condemned the execution, but also
said that the attacks on the Saudi embassy in Tehran and the Saudi
consulate in Mashhad had damaged Iran’s reputation.
“We do not allow rogue groups to commit illegal actions and damage the
holy reputation of Islamic Republic of Iran,” he said in a statement.
“What happened last night in Mashhad and Tehran and collateral damages
in Saudi consulate and Embassy is not acceptable and justifiable.”
He called upon the interior, judiciary and intelligence ministries to guarantee the safety of the Saudi diplomats in Iran.
On
Sunday, the United Nations high commissioner for human rights, Zeid
Ra’ad Zeid Al-Hussein, issued a stern rebuke to Saudi Arabia,
“deploring” the execution of the cleric, Sheikh Nimr al-Nimr, and
expressing concern about the surge in Saudi executions and the quality
of the judicial process that resulted in them.
The
United Nations secretary general, the United States and the European
Union have also condemned the execution of Sheikh Nimr, one of 47 people
put to death on terrorism-related charges. The sheikh had been a vocal
critic of the Sunni kingdom’s treatment of its Shiite minority.
“The
oppressed scholar neither encouraged people to take armed action nor
engaged in secret plotting,” Ayatollah Khamenei said of Sheikh Nimr. His
“only action,” Ayatollah Khamenei said, was “openly criticizing” the
Saudis and “promoting virtue and prohibiting vice — something that
stemmed from his religious ardor and devotion.”
Ayatollah
Khamenei criticized all those “who claim to support freedom, democracy
and human rights and keep silent and support the Saudi regime,” and
added, “The Islamic world and the whole world should feel responsible
for this issue.”
Iran,
which is ruled by Shiite clerics, and Saudi Arabia, which has a Sunni
monarchy, have been engaged in a regional struggle for dominance that
has been exacerbated by the turbulence of the Arab Spring and its
aftermath. In his remarks on Sunday, Ayatollah Khamenei referred to the
island nation of Bahrain, which is predominantly Shiite but governed by
Sunni rulers, and to Yemen, which is strained by a civil war between the
Houthis, Shiite rebels who support the former president, and Sunni
supporters of the current government.
“The
torture of Bahraini people and destruction of their mosques and
buildings and the bombardment of Yemeni people are other instances of
crimes committed by the Saudi regime which should never be overlooked by
human rights activists and organizations,” Ayatollah Khamenei said.
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