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Kuwait Recalls Its Envoy in Iran Amid Feud With Saudi Arabia Iranian Military Official Condemns Attacks on Saudi Embassy and Consulate
(about 2 hours later)
LONDON — Kuwait recalled its ambassador to Iran on Tuesday, the latest country to side with Saudi Arabia in a widening diplomatic feud with Iran that has roiled the region, put the United States in a bind and threatened to set back the prospects for peace in Syria. TEHRAN — A senior commander of the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps of Iran on Tuesday condemned the storming of the Saudi Embassy in Tehran and its Consulate in Mashhad, calling it an “ugly, unjustifiable act.”
The feud was set off by a pair of events on Saturday: Saudi Arabia’s execution of 47 men, including a dissident Shiite cleric, Sheikh Nimr al-Nimr, and the outraged reaction of Iranians, who set fire to the Saudi Embassy in Tehran and the Saudi Consulate in Mashhad, Iran’s second-largest city. The commander, Brig. Gen. Mohsen Kazemeini of the Muhammad Rasulullah Corps, joined other representatives of Iran’s hard-liners in condemning the Saturday attacks, calling them “totally wrong.” The attacks prompted Saudi Arabia to sever ties with Iran.
President Hassan Rouhani of Iran, who has been struggling to balance the demands of hard-liners at home with his efforts to improve relations abroad, tried to draw attention back to the executions — which were condemned worldwide but were then somewhat eclipsed by the attack on the embassy and consulate. On Tuesday, Kuwait recalled its ambassador to Iran, becoming the latest country to side with Saudi Arabia in a widening diplomatic feud with Iran that has roiled the region, put the United States in a bind and threatened to set back the prospects for peace in Syria.
“The response to criticism should not be beheading, and we hope that European countries that always react to human rights issues fulfill their human rights responsibilities on the matter,” Mr. Rouhani told Denmark’s foreign minister, Kristian Jensen, at a meeting in Tehran, according to Mr. Rouhani’s official website. While some Iranian newspapers had hinted that the Revolutionary Guards had partly organized the event, General Kazemeini, the leading commander of the group for Tehran, denied involvement by his forces and those of the Basij, a voluntary paramilitary organization. He did not specify who had been behind the attacks.
Mr. Rouhani had already condemned the attack on the embassy and consulate, but on Tuesday, he pointed out that popular outrage was not without justification. The commander did not elaborate on his comments. Mojtaba Mousavi, the editor in chief of a website called Iran’s View, speculated that some Basij members — “just kids acting emotionally” — might have been among those who stormed the embassy, but he added, “This was in no way an organized effort by official groups.” He noted that the Basij condemned the attack on the building.
“It is natural that crime against Islamic and human rights will be followed by public opinion reactions,” he said. In 2012, Iran’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, had rebuked Basij members after they had stormed the British Embassy, leading to a cutting of diplomatic ties with Britain that were restored only last year.
Kuwait’s decision, reported by the official Kuwait News Agency, came a day after Bahrain and Sudan cut diplomatic ties with Iran, and the United Arab Emirates downgraded relations with the country. President Hassan Rouhani, who had already denounced the storming of the Saudi diplomatic buildings, said on Tuesday that Saudi Arabia should not use the attacks to divert attention from its decision to execute a dissident Shiite cleric, Sheikh Nimr al-Nimr — the event that precipitated the attacks.
“To cover up the crime of beheading a religious leader by the country, the Saudi government initiated a strange move and severed its political ties with the Islamic Republic of Iran,” Mr. Rouhani said in a meeting with the Danish foreign minister, Kristian Jensen, in Tehran.
“However, undoubtedly, such actions can never muffle that big crime,” the state news agency IRNA quoted Mr. Rouhani as saying.
Mr. Rouhani, who has been struggling to balance the demands of hard-liners at home with his efforts to improve relations abroad, added that “beheading should not be a response to criticism,” and that “it is natural that the crime against human and Islamic rights will cause public reaction.”
Europe has expressed widespread revulsion at 47 executions Saudi Arabia recently carried out — including that of Sheikh Nimr — and Mr. Rouhani told Mr. Jensen, “I hope that European states, which always react to human rights issues, will act in accordance with their human rights obligations in this regard as well.”
Kuwait’s decision to recall its ambassador, reported by the official Kuwait News Agency, came a day after Bahrain and Sudan cut diplomatic ties with Iran, and the United Arab Emirates downgraded relations with the country.
The Kuwait News Agency quoted a Foreign Ministry official as calling the attacks a flagrant breach of international conventions and saying they violated Iran’s international commitment to the security and safety of diplomatic missions on its lands.The Kuwait News Agency quoted a Foreign Ministry official as calling the attacks a flagrant breach of international conventions and saying they violated Iran’s international commitment to the security and safety of diplomatic missions on its lands.
On Sunday, Kuwait condemned the storming of the Saudi Embassy, and on Monday, it denounced the attack as a violation of the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations, the 1961 accord that specifies diplomatic privileges.On Sunday, Kuwait condemned the storming of the Saudi Embassy, and on Monday, it denounced the attack as a violation of the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations, the 1961 accord that specifies diplomatic privileges.
Kuwait, like Bahrain, Sudan and the United Arab Emirates, is a Sunni-led country and an ally of Saudi Arabia, a Sunni monarchy. (Bahrain has a majority-Shiite population but a Sunni monarchy.) Iran, a Shiite republic that has been governed by clerics since 1979, sees itself as a protector of the world’s Shiites.Kuwait, like Bahrain, Sudan and the United Arab Emirates, is a Sunni-led country and an ally of Saudi Arabia, a Sunni monarchy. (Bahrain has a majority-Shiite population but a Sunni monarchy.) Iran, a Shiite republic that has been governed by clerics since 1979, sees itself as a protector of the world’s Shiites.