PHOTO: Police hold back a crowd as smoke rises from the Saudi Embassy in Tehran on Saturday night

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UPDATE 1650 GMT: The Iranian regime has maintained its denunciation of Saudi Arabia, with head of judiciary Sadegh Larijani declaring:

The Muslim world, today, is witnessing numerous crimes by Saudis in different regions. In all belligerency happening in Iraq, Syria, Lebanon, Yemen and Bahrain, Saudis’ footprint and their support for terrorists are seen.

Larijani accused Riyadh of “the most evil plots” on behalf of hegemonic powers and colonialists: “Undoubtedly, their crimes in Syria, Iraq, and Yemen will serve the interests of Israel and the US.”

He claimed that the execution of Sheikh al-Nimr is a sign that the Saudi regime is “on the verge of collapse”.

1st Vice President Eshagh Jahangiri advised Saudi leaders “to stop these subversive, hasty, illogical, emotional acts that are marked by mismanagement”. Saying that they should learn from how Iran has treated Saudi Arabia with restraint, he asked:

Just look what chaos you have created in the region over the past couple of years. What came of your move to create terrorist groups other than plunging the region into disarray and the plundering of the properties of the people of Syria and Iraq and elsewhere?

Vice President Elham Aminzadeh said that Iran is prepared to start litigation against Saudi Arabia for the deaths of many hundreds of pilgrims, including more than 500 Iranians, in a crush at the Hajj pilgrimage near Mecca in late September.

UPDATE 1500 GMT: Riyadh is cutting air traffic with Iran, ending commercial relations, and barring its citizens from travel to the Islamic Republic.

Saudi Foreign Minister Adel al-Jubeir announced the measures in an interview with Reuters. He said Iranian pilgrims will still be welcome to visit Mecca and Medina.

Even before Jubeir’s announcement, Iranian media were warning of the blow to Saudi Arabia from the possible loss of revenue of companies like Savola, an edible oils firm which earned $534 million in Iran between from January to September 2015.

UPDATE 1300 GMT: Saudi Arabia’s Gulf ally Bahrain has also cut relations with Iran.

The State-run Bahrain News Agency said:

After the cowardly acts inflicted on our brethren at the Saudi embassy in Tehran and the consulate in Mashhad — which represent a flagrant violation of intentional treaties and grave sectarian policies — we cannot be silent about nor accept it [an Iranian diplomatic presence].”

Instead, this needs to be immediately counteracted decisively with full force, to prevent widespread unrest and to ensure stability of the region.

The UAE, another Gulf Cooperation Council member, has downgraded its links with Tehran.

Sudan has also broken diplomatic ties with the Islamic Republic.

ORIGINAL ENTRY: Saudi Arabia has cut diplomatic ties with Iran, in a further escalation of tension fed by Riyadh’s execution of a prominent Shia cleric on Saturday.

Foreign Minister Adel al-Jubeir told a news conference on Sunday evening that Iranian diplomats
must leave the kingdom within 48 hours. He also said Saudi Arabia had withdrawn all its diplomatic personnel from Iran.

While Saudi-Iranian relations have long been strained, including by crises in Syria and Yemen, the current dispute was spurred by Riyadh’s execution of 47 men on Saturday morning. Among them was Sheikh Nimr Baqr al-Nimr, who had long led protests in Eastern Province, home to most of Saudi’s Shia Muslim population.

Iranian officials immediately denounced Saudi Arabia, with the Supreme Leader comparing the Saudi monarchy to the Islamic State and a senior cleric warning that Riyadh would be “wiped off the map”. On Saturday night, a crowd — possibly organized by elements within the regime — burned and ransacked part of the Saudi Embassy.

See Iran Daily, Jan 3: Saudi Embassy Attacked After Cleric’s Execution

Jubeir said at the news conference that the incident at the embassy was an “act of aggression”. Saudi diplomats had sought help from the Iranian Foreign Ministry when the building was attacked, but that the requests were ignored three times.

Referring to past events such as the 1979 takeover of the US Embassy and holding of 52 hostages for 444 days, he said, “These ongoing aggressions against diplomatic missions are a violation of all agreements and international conventions.”

Iran’s President Rouhani had tried to ease the tension on Sunday with a message criticizing “extremists” for the “unjustifiable” attack on the Embassy. He called for the identification and prosecution of those responsible.

However, Rouhani is already facing a fight within the regime with groups such as the Revolutionary Guards, ahead of key elections in February. The episode could be used both by opponents of the President’s foreign policy of “engagement”, including better relations with Saudi Arabia, and by hardliners wanting to prevent a “moderate” bloc from gaining influence in the vote for Parliament and the Assembly of Experts, the body which chooses the Supreme Leader.

While the White House cautiously responded to the Saudi killing of al-Nimr and other detainees, expressing concern but not condemnation, a US official warned, “This is a dangerous game they are playing. There are larger repercussions than just the reaction to these executions.”

However, “a person briefed on the Saudi Government’s thinking” was defiant:

Enough is enough. Tehran has thumbed its nose at the West again and again, continuing to sponsor terrorism and launch ballistic missiles and no one is doing anything about it.

Every time the Iranians do something, the United States backs off. The Saudis are actually doing something.

Supreme Leader: US Will Try to Use Elections to Overthrow Regime

The Supreme Leader has warned that the US will try to use February’s elections, for Parliament and the Assembly of Experts, to overthrow the Iranian regime.

Addressing Tehran Friday Prayer Leaders, Ayatollah Khamenei said Americans were seeking to “distance society from the Revolution’s goals and bring Iran close to their goals”. He claimed the US is worried as “they feel danger because Islamic thoughts have gone beyond Iran”.

In the run-up to the February elections, hardliners have accused other groups — including leaders such as former President Hashemi Rafsanjani — of pursuing “sedition” to topple the regime.

See Iran Daily, Dec 31: 6 Years Later, Regime Still Worries About “Sedition”

The accusations and Khamenei’s language also invoke the claim that the mass protests after the disputed 2009 Presidential election were not genuine expressions of Iranians’ anger and frustration, but were instead fomented by foreign countries and groups.