{"id":179181,"date":"2016-01-05T11:10:19","date_gmt":"2016-01-05T11:10:19","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/4cd.e16.myftpupload.com\/?p=179181"},"modified":"2016-01-05T11:10:19","modified_gmt":"2016-01-05T11:10:19","slug":"kuwait-recalls-ambassador-from-iran-as-saudi-executions-crisis-widens","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/?p=179181","title":{"rendered":"Kuwait recalls ambassador from Iran as Saudi executions crisis widens"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Kuwait has become the latest country to downgrade its relations with Iran after recalling its ambassador, in a widening regional crisis over the execution of a Saudi Shia cleric and the ensuing attack on the kingdom\u2019s embassy in Tehran.<\/p>\n<p>Saudi Arabia, Bahrain and Sudan have already severed diplomatic ties with Iran, while the United Arab Emirates has recalled its envoy.<\/p>\n<p>Late on Monday, Saudi Arabia\u2019s envoy to the United Nations said the row withIran would not affect peace talks aimed at resolving the ongoing civil war in Syria, which has claimed over a quarter of a million lives in almost five years of conflict.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe will attend the next Syria talks and we\u2019re not going to boycott them because of Iran or anybody else for that matter,\u201d said Abdullah al-Moallimi. \u201cIf we decide to boycott them it will have to be for a better reason than that.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The two regional rivals are embroiled in a diplomatic spat sparked by Riyadh\u2019s execution of Nimr al-Nimr, a Saudi cleric who encouraged demonstrations against the monarchy in the country\u2019s Shia eastern province in the wake of the Arab spring uprisings. The killing inspired protests in Shia-majority areas in the Middle East and south Asia as well, and attacks on Sunni mosques in Iraq.<\/p>\n<p>Iranian protesters attacked the kingdom\u2019s embassy in Tehran, and Saudi Arabiaretaliated by severing diplomatic relations, ordering Iranian diplomats to leave the country and ending commercial ties with the Islamic republic, as well as halting flights between the two countries.<\/p>\n<p>The UN security council on Monday night strongly condemned the attack on the embassy, and urged the Iranian government \u201cto protect diplomatic and consular property and personnel\u201d, while calling on both sides to reduce tensions.<\/p>\n<aside class=\"element element-rich-link element--thumbnail element-rich-link--upgraded\" data-component=\"rich-link\" data-link-name=\"rich-link-1 | 1\">\n<div class=\"rich-link tone-comment--item \"><\/div>\n<\/aside>\n<p>Iran\u2019s president, Hassan Rouhani, criticised the Saudi move on Tuesday. \u201cSaudi Arabia cannot hide its crime of beheading a religious leader by severing political relations with Iran,\u201d Rouhani was quoted as saying by state news agency Irna in a meeting with the Danish foreign minister in Tehran.<\/p>\n<p>Saudi Arabia and Iran are locked in a regional struggle that has seen them back opposing sides in civil wars in Syria and Yemen. Peace talks between the Saudi-backed government in Yemen and Houthi rebels who overthrew it failed to even secure a brief ceasefire last month, and observers say the latest crisis may threaten scheduled peace talks in Geneva between the Syrian government and the opposition.<\/p>\n<p>Iran strongly backs the government of Syria\u2019s president, Bashar al-Assad, while Saudi Arabia has called for his removal from power and backed rebel groups battling to overthrow him.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe\u2019ve got a very difficult situation that we\u2019re trying to navigate in terms of reaching a political resolution for the situation inside of Syria,\u201d White House spokesman Josh Earnest said in a press briefing on Monday. \u201cIt\u2019s very difficult to get everybody around the table, and certainly it\u2019s going to be even more difficult to get everybody back around the table if you have the Saudis and the Iranians trading public barbs and public expressions of antagonism.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Iran has not yet made any public comment on whether it still intends to participate in the scheduled peace talks later in January. The latest spat is the latest in a long line of grievances and public admonishments between the two regional powers, who have traded accusations of destabilising other nations in the Middle East and supporting terrorism.<\/p>\n<p>&#8211;<\/p>\n<p>Source: The Guardian<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Kuwait has become the latest country to downgrade its relations with Iran after recalling its ambassador, in a widening regional crisis over the execution of a Saudi Shia cleric and the ensuing attack on the kingdom\u2019s embassy in Tehran. Saudi Arabia, Bahrain and Sudan have already severed diplomatic ties with Iran, while the United Arab [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":14,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jnews-multi-image_gallery":[],"jnews_single_post":[],"jnews_primary_category":[],"jnews_social_meta":[],"jnews_override_counter":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[107],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-179181","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-international"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/179181","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/14"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=179181"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/179181\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=179181"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=179181"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=179181"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}