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3rd LD: Bahrain cuts diplomatic ties with Iran

Xinhua, January 4, 2016 Adjust font size:

Bahrain said on Monday it was severing diplomatic relations with Iran, a day after Saudi Arabia cut ties with Tehran amid outrage over the Saudi execution of a Shiite cleric.

Bahrain has also asked the Iranian diplomats to leave the kingdom within 48 hours, Bahrain News Agency (BNA) reported.

"Bahrain has decided to end diplomatic relations with Iran because of its continuous interference in the affairs of the kingdom, and also of the GCC (Gulf Cooperation Council)," BNA quoted a statement as saying.

Bahrain's Foreign Ministry also said that it has instructed members of its mission in Iran to leave the country within 48 hours and shut down the embassy in Tehran.

Following a cabinet decision on Monday, the foreign ministry summoned Mortadha Sanubari, acting charge d'affaires of the Embassy of the Islamic Republic of Iran, and handed him an official memorandum.

On Sunday, Saudi Arabia cut off its diplomatic relations with Iran after angry protesters stormed its embassy in Tehran to protest at the execution of prominent Shiite cleric Nimr al-Nimr.

Saudi Foreign Minister Adel al-Jubeir accused the Iranian authorities of not taking any measure to prevent the attacks against the embassy in Tehran and the consulate in the Iranian city of Mashhad.

On Saturday, the Saudi Interior Ministry announced that al-Nimr and 46 other men were executed on terror charges.

The executions triggered angry protests outside the Saudi embassy in Tehran on Saturday by Iranians who condemned the execution of Nimr.

Most of the executed were Saudis who were involved in a series of attacks carried out by al-Qaida from 2003-06. Nimr was seen as a driving force behind anti-government protests that broke out in the country in 2011.

In Tehran, Iranian Foreign Ministry Spokesman Hossein Jaber Ansari said on Monday that Iran is not following a policy of creating tension in its ties with Saudi Arabia.

"The Islamic republic does not need tension and conflict in its domestic and international policies, and it is not in the course of creating tension with Saudi Arabia," Jaber Ansari told a weekly press conference hours after the Saudi decision to severe diplomatic ties with Iran.

Angry mobs raided and set fire on the Saudi Embassy in Tehran late Saturday and police tried to drive the protesters away after they broke into its compound. Also on Saturday, a group of protesters set ablaze parts of the Saudi Consulate in Iran's northeastern religious city of Mashhad.

Jaber Ansari said the Islamic republic is obliged to respect the international conventions and to protect diplomats and the diplomatic missions, and that in relation to the attacks on Saudi missions in Iran, the Iranian police and the judiciary have done their best to control the situation and deal with the attackers legally. Endit