BAHRAIN and Sudan followed Saudi Arabia in cutting diplomatic links to Iran yesterday, while other countries downgraded ties.

 

Saudi Arabia broke off relations with Iran late on Sunday, giving its embassy staff 48 hours to leave the country.

 

Sudan and Bahrain followed suit yesterday, while the United Arab Emirates (UAE) announced it would downgrade ties with Tehran to the level of the charge d’affaires, only talking on economic issues.

 

Somalia also issued a statement criticising Iran.

 

Riyadh said the move was in response to the storming of its Tehran embassy by protesters following Saturday’s execution of Saudi religious leader and critic of the monarchy Sheikh Nimr al-Nimr.

 

Mr Nimr was one of 47 prisoners killed in a mass execution, the largest in the kingdom since 1980.

 

He was sentenced to death for comments celebrating the death of the interior minister and crown prince Nayef bin Abdul-Aziz Al Saud in 2012.

 

World powers have sought to calm the tensions. Germany called on both sides to mend ties, while Russia offered to act as mediator.

 

Hostility between Iran and Saudi Arabia has soared in recent years.

 

Iran supported Syrian President Bashar al-Assad throughout the five-year civil war while Saudi Arabia has backed Islamic fundamentalist rebels — along with its allies Qatar and Turkey.

 

Saudi Arabia has repeatedly accused Iran of aiding the Houthi Ansar Allah movement in neighbouring Yemen, which overthrew then-president Abed Rabbo Mansour Hadi in February of last year.

 

A Saudi-led coalition of nine regional states — including Bahrain, Sudan, the UAE and Qatar — has been fighting to restore Mr Hadi since March in a campaign that has brought Yemen to the brink of humanitarian disaster.

 

But Yemen has proven a quagmire for the Saudis, withHouthis launching cross-border raids.

 

Relations were further soured by September’s horrific crush during the Hajj pilgrimage to Mecca, where between 749 and 2,400 people died.

 

Tehran blamed Riyadh for the disaster and accused it of refusing access to the dead in the aftermath.