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Iranian Military Official Condemns Attacks on Saudi Embassy and Consulate
Iranian Military Official Condemns Attacks on Saudi Embassy and Consulate
(about 5 hours later)
TEHRAN — A commander of Iran’s hard-line military group on Tuesday condemned the storming of the Saudi Embassy in Tehran as an “ugly, unjustifiable act,” but the country’s president said it should not distract from Saudi Arabia’s execution of a dissident Shiite cleric.
CAIRO — For all the diplomatic dominoes that have fallen across the Middle East in recent days, with ambassadors from different countries flying home as a result of the explosive rift between Saudi Arabia and Iran, the map of allegiances has not significantly altered.
The commander, Brig. Gen. Mohsen Kazemeini of the Tehran unit of the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps, called the attack on the embassy, as well as one on the Saudi Consulate in Mashhad, Iran’s second-largest city, “totally wrong.” His statement — the most prominent so far by a representative of the hard-line security forces — was the latest indication of the fallout from the street violence on Saturday that followed the execution of the cleric, Sheikh Nimr al-Nimr.
Certainly, several countries offered muscular shows of solidarity to Saudi Arabia after an Iranian mob attacked its embassy in Tehran over the weekend, prompting a crisis that has put the United States in a bind and has threatened to set back the prospects for a resolution to the conflict in Syria.
As the denouncements of the attack grew, a new narrative began unfolding in Iran. An unnamed security official told the semiofficial Fars news agency that a fire in the embassy buliding had been set before the protest began.
By Tuesday, Kuwait had recalled its ambassador to Iran, the United Arab Emirates had downgraded its diplomatic relationship, and Bahrain and Sudan had joined Saudi Arabia in severing its relationship with Tehran entirely.
“Our security services are investigating the issue,” Fars quoted the official as saying. “Based on initial examinations, we have concluded that the fire started in the embassy before the protesters turned up, and that is suspicious to us.”
Yet many other Sunni Muslim countries signaled that they intended to take a more measured approach to the argument — sympathizing with Saudi Arabia, a rich and powerful ally, but also determined to avoid getting sucked into a harmful conflict with Iran, a country governed by Shiite clerics, with potentially grave costs.
A number of Iranian officials have suggested that the protest was planned by “infiltrators” aiming to tarnish the image of Iran and divert attention from Sheikh Nimr’s death. An unauthenticated video circulating on social media showed a few protesters throwing Molotov cocktails at the embassy compound while others shouted in approval.
“The smaller Gulf states are worried they will get caught in the middle,” said Michael Stephens, a research fellow at the Royal United Services Institute in London. “It worries them greatly that things could go badly.”
According to political analysts, the new criticisms signal that the hard-liners might regret not having done more to keep the protests under control, and that they might have been taken aback by the vehemence of the international response.
Some countries, like Turkey, Egypt and Pakistan, are already battling their own domestic insurgencies. Others are keen to guard their strategic interests or to keep the door open to trade with Iran while there is a prospect of American sanctions being lifted.
On Tuesday, Kuwait recalled its ambassador to Iran, becoming the latest country to side with Saudi Arabia in the widening diplomatic rift, which has put the United States in a bind and has threatened to set back the prospects for peace in Syria. Bahrain and Sudan cut diplomatic ties with Iran on Monday, and the United Arab Emirates downgraded relations with Iran, a major trading partner.
Qatar, which shares with Iran access to the world’s largest natural gas field in the Persian Gulf, has yet to declare its hand. Oman has also been quiet, sticking to its longstanding position of neutrality on Saudi Arabia and Iran.
President Hassan Rouhani, a moderate who had denounced the storming of the Saudi diplomatic buildings, tried on Tuesday to refocus attention on Sheikh Nimr’s execution. “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.
In Turkey, where senior officials have warned about the impact of the crisis on a “powder keg” region, Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu offered his country’s services to help resolve the conflictpeacefully.
“Such actions can never muffle that big crime,” the state news agency IRNA quoted Mr. Rouhani as saying.
“Diplomatic channels must be given a chance immediately,” Mr. Davutoglu said Tuesday at a meeting of his Justice and Development Party in the capital, Ankara. Frosty relations between Turkey and Saudi Arabia have warmed in recent months. But even in Pakistan, which for decades has had a close alliance with Saudi Arabia, there is a marked reluctance to plunge into the crisis.
While Kuwait’s decision to downgrade its relationship with Iran further strengthened Saudi Arabia’s position, several major Sunni Muslim countries — notably Egypt, Pakistan and Turkey — have resisted getting involved in the conflict with Iran, a republic governed by Shiite clerics since the 1979 revolution. They face significant insurgencies of their own and, in the case of Pakistan, a large Shiite population.
On Tuesday, the Pakistani prime minister’s foreign affairs adviser, Sartaj Aziz, warned Parliament that the crisis posed a “grave danger” to the Muslim world. He did not hint at any possible diplomatic moves against Iran, emphasizing instead that Pakistan would work toward “easing tensions.” Although Pakistan has received substantial Saudi financing to bolster its flagging economy, the government in Islamabad also faces pressure from its sizable Shiite minority, and it plans to develop a major gas pipeline with Iran to solve its energy crisis.
Qatar, which shares with Iran access to the world’s largest natural gas field in the Persian Gulf, has yet to declare its hand. Oman has also been quiet, sticking to its longstanding position of neutrality between Saudi Arabia and Iran.
Another Saudi ally, Egypt, has received billions of dollars in assistance from Saudi Arabia in recent years. In a visit to Riyadh on Tuesday, Egypt’s foreign minister, Sameh Shoukry, reaffirmed their nations’ alliance, saying, “The security of the kingdom is an integral part of Egypt’s security.” But Egypt’s room for maneuver against Iran is limited. Cairo severed official ties with Tehran in 1989, although there have been sporadic efforts in recent years to revive them.
In Turkey, where senior officials have warned about the impact of the crisis on a “powder keg” region, Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu said on Tuesday that his country was ready to work toward a peaceful resolution. “Diplomatic channels must be given a chance immediately,” Mr. Davutoglu said at a meeting of his Justice and Development Party in the capital, Ankara. “As Turkey, we are ready to offer any constructive help we can for a solution.”
Mr. Stephens, the analyst, said countries with their own insurgencies were unlikely to do much for Saudi Arabia beyond offering words of support.
Relations between Turkey and Saudi Arabia, long frosty, have warmed in recent months. But even in Pakistan, where the alliance with Saudi Arabia has long been much closer, there is also a marked reluctance to plunge into the crisis.
“The Turks have a problem with the Kurds, the Egyptians have difficulties in Sinai, and the Pakistanis have their own issues,” he said. “They will publicly support the Saudis, but they don’t have the energy or military strength for anything more.”
On Tuesday, the Pakistani prime minister’s foreign affairs adviser, Sartaj Aziz, warned Parliament that the crisis posed a “grave danger” to the Muslim world. He did not hint at any possible diplomatic moves against Iran, emphasizing instead that Pakistan would work toward “easing tensions.”
There is little doubt that many Gulf countries share Saudi Arabia’s concerns about Iran, whose support for armed groups in Syria and Iraq has contributed to a burst of sectarian warfare across the Middle East. Many were also offended by the attacks on Saudi diplomatic buildings over the weekend, which followed the execution of a Shiite cleric, Sheikh Nimr al-Nimr, in Saudi Arabia on Saturday.
Although Pakistan has received substantial Saudi funding to help its flagging economy, the government in Islamabad also faces pressure from its sizable Shiite minority, and it plans to develop a major gas pipeline with Iran to solve its energy crisis.
Western countries fear that a deepening divide in the region could scuttle efforts to negotiate an end to the Syrian crisis and defeat the Islamic State. The White House press secretary, Josh Earnest, told reporters on Tuesday that it was not in the interest of the leaders of Saudi Arabia or Iran “to continue to foment the kind of violence that often leads to radicalization and terrorism.”
Egypt’s foreign minister, Sameh Shoukry, reaffirmed his country’s support for Saudi Arabia on Tuesday, saying, “The security of the kingdom is an integral part of Egypt’s security.”
Yet the showdown is another reminder of Saudi Arabia’s limited ability, despite all its great wealth, to bend its allies to its will. The two most powerful countries to move against Iran, Kuwait and the United Arab Emirates, have taken diplomatic half-steps that could easily be reversed if this storm were to blow over. And Yemen, where the Saudis are backing the government as it tries to repel a rebellion by Shiite rebels known as Houthis, has demonstrated the limits of Saudi military power.
Cairo severed official ties with Tehran in 1989, although there have been sporadic efforts in recent years to revive them.
Although Saudi Arabia triggered the current dispute by executing Sheikh Nimr, a firebrand who had led popular protests in eastern Saudi Arabia, several analysts said Riyadh appeared to be acting from a position of weakness, or at least frustration. The Saudi economy is straining, the country is embroiled in conflicts in Syria and Yemen, and its leaders worry about the prospect of an American rapprochement with Iran.
Michael Stephens, a research fellow for Middle East studies at the Royal United Services Institute in London, said he did not expect Egypt, Turkey or Pakistan to do much beyond offering words of support for Saudi Arabia.
“They are under pressure on so many fronts,” said Toby Matthiesen, a research fellow at St. Antony’s College, Oxford, and author of a book on Saudi Shiites.
“The Turks have a problem with the Kurds, the Egyptians have difficulties in Sinai and the Pakistanis have their own issues,” he said. “They will publicly support the Saudis, but they don’t have the energy or military strength for anything more.”
There are signs that Iran is feeling the strain of international condemnation.
The Saudi-led war in Yemen — where the Saudis are backing the government as it tries to repel a rebellion by Shiite rebels known as Houthis — has shown Saudi Arabia that it cannot ask for too much, Dr. Stephens added.
On Tuesday, a commander of Iran’s hard-line military group condemned the storming of the Saudi Embassy in Tehran as an “ugly, unjustifiable act.” It was a sign, according to some analysts, that hard-liners in the Iranian regime might regret not having done more to keep the protests under control, and that they might have been taken aback by the vehemence of the international response.
The extent to which the attacks on the diplomatic buildings were carried out with official approval remains unclear.
The statement could have been a sign of factionalism inside the Iranian regime, said Mr. Matthiesen.
While some Iranian newspapers had hinted that the Revolutionary Guards had partly organized the events, General Kazemeini, the group’s leading commander in Tehran, denied involvement by his forces and those of the Basij, a voluntary paramilitary organization.
“This is one way of getting at the reformists inside Iran,” he said. “The two key issues under debate are the negotiations with the United States, and reaching out to the Saudis. Now that relations with the Saudis have been severed, the non-reformists will be empowered.”
He did not specify, however, who had been behind the attacks.
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.
Iran has had difficulties keeping its hard-liners in check in the past. In 2012, the country’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, 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.
Members of the Iranian Parliament also spoke out about the diplomatic crisis on Tuesday.
The Parliament’s official website, Icana, quoted Hossein Sobhani Nia, a lawmaker on the National Security and Foreign Policy Committee, as saying, “Some individuals, with their violent actions against the Saudi Embassy, did what Saudi Arabia wanted, and the Saudis are hiding behind these incidents.”
Mr. Sobhani Nia added that the police and other security forces should have prevented “unruly elements” from entering the embassy.
Gholam Ali Jafarzadeh Iman Abadi, another lawmaker, also blamed the police for lax security at the embassy. “We think that law enforcement should be blamed for its failure to control public anger,” Icana quoted him as saying.
On Tuesday, Iranian state television again showed video footage of an underground missile base, during a visit by the chairman of Parliament, Ali Larijani.
They showed what seemed to be long-range missiles on nine trucks in an underground complex. Mr. Larijani paid his respects at the coffin of an unknown soldier under a banner showing a quote from Iran’s supreme leader, saying, “Israel will not be around in 25 years.” Ayatollah Khamenei said in September that Israel, Iran’s main enemy, would not exist in 25 years because of a decline in its birthrate.
