Free Republic

Saudi Arabia has announced that it is severing diplomatic ties with Iran following Saturday's attack of its embassy in Tehran during protests. Adel al-Jubeir, Saudi foreign minister, made the announcement on Sunday as the foreign ministry announced that it would ask the Iranian diplomatic mission to leave the kingdom within 48 hours. The Saudi foreign ministry has also announced that the staff of its diplomatic mission have been evacuated, and are now on their way back to Saudi.

BAGHDAD — Saudi Arabia cut diplomatic ties with Iran on Sunday and gave all Iranian diplomats 48 hours to leave the kingdom, as escalating tensions over the execution of an outspoken Shiite cleric in Saudi Arabia marked a new low in relations between the two Middle Eastern powers. The surprise move, announced in a televised news conference by Adel al-Jubeir, the Saudi foreign minister, followed harsh criticism by Iranian leaders of the Saudi execution of Sheikh Nimr al-Nimr and the storming of the Saudi Embassy in Tehran by protestors in response. Mr. Jubeir said that the kingdom would not allow...

When we tell you that Iran (biblical Elam) will soon wipe Saudi Arabia off the face of the map, you better believe it, Isaiah 21 confirmed it and it will be done. Today Iran's Ayatullah threatens: "I have no doubt that this pure blood will stain the collar of the House of Saud and wipe them from the pages of history," says Iran's Ayatollah Ahmad Khatami. The threat with complete annihilation came as result when King Salman of Saudi Arabia today executed an Ayatullah figure named Nimr Al-Nimr in Saudi Arabia. So like birth pangs, this speeds up the end...

Saudi Arabia's mass execution of 47 prisoners — including prominent Shiite cleric Nimr al-Nimr — triggered unrest across the Middle East on Saturday, particularly in Iran, where protesters stormed and ransacked the Saudi embassy in Tehran. Photos and video footage posted on Twitter by Iranian journalist Sobhan Hassanvand showed a mob of angry demonstrators smashing windows and setting fire to the Saudi diplomatic outpost in the Iranian capital. Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi also condemned the executions. "I'm shocked & saddened at Sheikh Nimr's execution by Saudi authorities," he wrote on Twitter. "Peaceful opposition is a fundamental right. Repression does...

Saudi Arabia's execution of 47 'terrorists' in one day including top Shiite cleric triggers wave of protests across Middle East and around the world Saudi Arabia has executed 47 people convicted of 'terrorism' today, including a prominent Shiite cleric behind anti-government protests, according to the interior ministry. Shiite Sheikh Nimr al-Nimr, a 56-year-old cleric was a driving force of the protests that broke out in 2011 in the Sunni-ruled kingdom's east, where the Shiite minority complains of marginalisation. Scores of Shi'ite Muslims marched through the Qatif district of Saudi Arabia's Eastern Province in protest at the execution of cleric Nimr...

Saudi Arabia has faced global condemnation after it was revealed on 2 January, that 47 people at prisons around the country, including 56-year-old al Nimr, were executed. Most of the detainees had been captured after a series of attacks by al Qaeda between 2003 and 2006. Mr Nimr, who was a driving force behind the anti-government protests, was found guilty of a number of terrorism-related charges in 2014, including incitement of vandalism and sectarian strife, failing to obey or pledge allegiance to King Abdullah (then monarch of Saudi Arabia), calling for the collapse of the state, and insulting relatives and...

The Latest: Iran politician predicts 'maelstrom' in Saudi RIYADH, Saudi Arabia (AP) - The latest developments following Saudi Arabia's execution of 47 people, including a prominent opposition Shiite cleric who had rallied demonstrations in the kingdom (All times local). /snip In comments posted on Iranian state television's website, Ali Larijani said, "Nimr's martyrdom will put Saudi Arabia in a maelstrom. Saudi will not pass through this maelstrom."

Lebanon's top Shi'ite cleric said on Thursday U.S. military bases in the Gulf amounted to a new form of occupation and accused Washington of wanting to control the world. "We warn the people of the region that the American military bases represent a real threat to their future and to future generations because its real goal is to control the Gulf, its treasures and wealth after controlling Afghanistan," said Sheikh Mohammed Hussein Fadlallah in his weekly seminar. "The expected attack on Iraq will not be the ultimate end in this...American project to seize control of the world politically and economically."...

TEHRAN, Oct 8 (AFP) - A top Iranian Shiite cleric on Tuesday called on Muslims "not to stay silently seated" after right-wing US pastor Jerry Falwell labelled the prophet Mohammad "a terrorist". Quoted by state radio, Ayatollah Hossein Nuri-Hamedani called on Muslims "not to stay silently seated in the face of such insults and propaganda". "The priests linked to the White House who stand against the prophet seek to revive the (pre-Islamic) period of ignorance," he said. Ayatollah Nuri-Hamedani is one of the clerics considered qualified here or issue a fatwa -- or Islamic edict -- but in his comments...