Crowds torch Saudi embassy in Iran

Angry crowds protesting at Saudi Arabia’s execution of a top Shia cleric set fire to the kingdom’s embassy in Tehran and stormed the building before being cleared out by the police, reports said.

In Mashhad, Iran’s second biggest city, demonstrators on Saturday, meanwhile, set fire to the Saudi consulate, according to ISNA news agency, carrying pictures of the alleged assault.

Iran’s president Sunday denounced attacks on the embassy and the consulate as “totally unjustifiable” after protesters stormed the compounds.

“The actions last night by a group of radicals in Tehran and Mashhad leading to damage at the Saudi embassy and consulate are totally unjustifiable, as the buildings should be legally and religiously protected in the Islamic Republic of Iran,” Hassan Rouhani said, quoted by the official IRNA news agency.

At least 44 people were arrested late Saturday for storming the diplomatic missions in Tehran and Mashhad.

The incidents came hours after the announcement of the death of 56-year-old cleric Nimr al-Nimr, a key figure in anti-government protests in the kingdom since 2011.

The execution prompted strong condemnation from Shiite- majority Iran and Iraq. “There are flames inside the embassy... Demonstrators were able to get inside but have since been cleared out,” the news agency said.

“The fire has destroyed the interior of the embassy,” an eyewitness said.

“The police are everywhere and have dispersed the demonstrators, some of whom have been arrested.”

Protesters had been able to climb up onto the roof of the embassy before they were made to leave, it added.

Websites carried pictures of demonstrators apparently clutching the Saudi flag, which had been pulled down.

Iranian media quoted foreign ministry spokesman Hossein Jaber Ansari as asking police to “protect Saudi Arabia’s diplomatic missions in Tehran and Mashhad... And prevent any demonstrations in front of these sites.”

Nimr, who spent more than a decade studying theology in Iran, was among a group of 47 Shiias and Sunnis executed Saturday on charges of terrorism.

Predominantly-Shia Iran, the Sunni kingdom’s longtime rival, said in reaction to Nimr’s execution that “the Saudi government supports terrorist movements and extremists, but confronts domestic critics with oppression and execution”.

It will “pay a high price for following these policies”, Jaber Ansari had warned before the attacks took place.

In response, Saudi Arabia’s foreign ministry said it had summoned Iran’s envoy to protest at the “aggressive Iranian statements on the legal sentences carried out today”.

France and Germany on Sunday condemned Saudi Arabia’s execution and voiced concerns about growing tensions in the Middle East following riots in Shiite-dominated Iran.

France said it “deeply deplores Saudi Arabia's execution Saturday of 47 people”.

An official list published included Sunnis convicted of involvement in Al-Qaeda attacks that killed Saudis and foreigners in 2003 and 2004.