PHOTO: Ayatollah Ahmad Khatami — “Pure blood will stain the collar of the House of Saud”
Iran’s regime has quickly condemned Saudi Arabia’s execution of 47 detainees, including leading Shia cleric Sheikh Nimr Baqr al-Nimr, on Saturday.
The Supreme Leader’s office offered its reaction in the form of a poster comparing Saudi Arabia to the Islamic State:
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Ayatollah Ahmad Khatami, a Tehran Friday Prayer leader and Assembly of Experts member, said in an interview, “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.”
He added, “The crime of executing Sheikh Nimr is part of a criminal pattern by this treacherous family….The Islamic world is expected to cry out and denounce this infamous regime as much as it can.”
Another member of the Assembly of Experts, Ayatollah Kaabi, said the killing of al-Nimr will be a “turning point” for the Islamic Awakening — the Iranian regime’s term for the uprisings in the Middle East and North Africa since 2011 — isolating Saudi Arabia in the region.
Iranian authorities have announced that protests will be held outside the Saudi embassy in Tehran on Sunday, while seminaries will be shut in the holy city of Qom.
The Foreign Ministry said in a statement:
While the extremist and Takfiri terrorists have deprived the regional and world nations of security and tranquility and threaten certain regional governments’ stability and existence, execution of a figure like Sheikh Nimr who didn’t have any instrument but words to pursue his political and religious goals merely shows the depth of imprudence and irresponsibility.
The prominent newspaper Mehr has alleged that the executions are the “first decision” of a Saudi-Turkish conspiracy following Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s talks in Riyadh last week.