Iran: Saudis face 'divine revenge' for executing al-Nimr

[nitpicker]

Source: BBC

Iran: Saudis face 'divine revenge' for executing al-Nimr


23 minutes ago

From the section Middle East


Saudi Arabia will face "divine revenge" for its execution of a prominent Shia cleric, Iran's supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has warned.

Ayatollah Khamenei described Sheikh Nimr al-Nimr as a "martyr" who acted peacefully.
(snip)

Ayatollah Khamenei said the cleric had been executed for his opposition to Saudi Arabia's Sunni rulers. "This oppressed scholar had neither invited people to armed movement, nor was involved in covert plots," the ayatollah tweeted. "The only act of #SheikhNimr was outspoken criticism," he added, saying the "unfairly-spilled blood of oppressed martyr #SheikhNimr will affect rapidly & Divine revenge will seize Saudi politicians".

Sheikh Nimr had been a figurehead in the anti-government protests that erupted in the wake of the Arab Spring up to his arrest in 2012.

Iran - Saudi Arabia's main regional rival - has led condemnation among Shia communities over the execution.
(snip)


Read more: http://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-35216694

[nitpicker]

1. Link to AP

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/M/ML_SAUDI_ARABIA?SITE=AP&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2016-01-03-03-48-09

[delrem]

2. The House of Saud is a major US ally.

Just like Turkey is a NATO country and is unlikely to do anything that NATO doesn't recommend.

I really don't understand where the US is going with this.

[karynnj]

9. where the US is going with this?

There is no suggestion that the US actually controls either Turkey or Saudi Arabia. The idea that everything here is a Russia US proxy war is simplistic.

Both are authoritarian regimes with horrible leadership and both are part of the problem. The US spoke against this execution and others, but seems to have very little influence when the leaders of either of these countries disagree with us.

[Raster]

17. Both Saudi Arabia and Iran have many faces: one is the citizen of the rational world face...

...others are the Sunni vs. Shia Muslim faces that harbor blood feuds over a thousand years old. And I completely agree: the commonly held falsehood that everything in this area boils down to US vs. Russia, is not only simplistic, but achingly ignorant. Further, neither the US nor Russia have been able to respond in the Middle East with anything other than a purely reactive stumbling about FOR DECADES. Neither the US nor Russia understand the Middle East mindset enough to yield proactive responses. Both the US and Russia have caused disastrous and severe world-wide consequences due entirely to their lack understanding and the over abundance of macho bravado. Case-in-point: Afghanistan.

[daleo]

14. I recall Iran being in an "axis of evil"

War with Saudi Arabia would be a good excuse for the U.S. to invade Iran, if an agreeable president was in power. Which, one could be, within a year.

[Ducksworthy]

20. We'll forward you name to the Army recruiters

When a president more to your liking decides to invade Iran.

[Marty McGraw]

21. I'm positive daleo

did not mean what you thought you read the post as.

Happy New Year!

[daleo]

22. Re-read my post

You will see that I wasn't pulling for an invasion, just saying that this can be seen in the light of an overall plan - one that I don't want to see carried out.

[Spitfire of ATJ]

3. I've heard him described as the Shiite version of Martin Luther King.

[delrem]

5. Nobody can deny that it's intended as a direct provocation.

[Spitfire of ATJ]

19. I bet the Saudi Royals didn't anticipate the backlash.

[Geronimoe]

4. If there was going to be divine act

It is a bit late, the guy is dead.

[bananas]

6. "Revenge" happens after someone is killed, not before.

"Divine revenge will seize Saudi politicians" - The Supreme Leader of The Islamic Republic of Iran

https://twitter.com/khamenei_ir/status/683535417967296512

Khamenei.ir
?@khamenei_ir

Doubtlessly, unfairly-spilled blood of oppressed martyr #SheikhNimr will affect rapidly & Divine revenge will seize Saudi politicians.

10:28 PM - 2 Jan 2016

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iran

Iran ... officially the Islamic Republic of Iran ...

<snip>

The Leader of the Revolution ("Supreme Leader&quot is responsible for delineation and supervision of the general policies of the Islamic Republic of Iran.[174] The Supreme Leader is Commander-in-Chief of the armed forces, controls the military intelligence and security operations, and has sole power to declare war or peace.[174] The heads of the judiciary, state radio and television networks, the commanders of the police and military forces and six of the twelve members of the Guardian Council are appointed by the Supreme Leader.[174]

<snip>

[ChairmanAgnostic]

12. I don't think you realize just how provocative this was

And how the entire Mideast can erupt over this killing.

The only country with greater internal pressures and potential strife than Saudi Arabia is China. Not NK, because there is no internal pressure or strife permitted there.

This could lead to a world war.

[Vinca]

7. The Saudis have hit the hornets nest big time.

And you know they'll drag us into it.

[Raster]

18. Of course they will. Thanks to Big Oil and certain political allies...

...they own us, in a sense.

[JustABozoOnThisBus]

8. Just one more flare-up in the Sunni/Shiite kerfuffle.

And I don't think the U.S. government minds if they continue to pound on each other.

[karynnj]

10. I think they DO mind

If they didn't, neither Kerry or Obama would have invested the effort to bring Iran and Saudi Arabia together in Vienna.

In fact, arguments that they wanted this or do not care likely spring from the idea that we are so strong nothing happens unless we covertly agree. In fact, the world is far more complicated.

I suspect that SA is a very insecure authoritarian country that is brutally surprising any voice they see as leading any group not totally aligned with them. They Are Doing THIS AGAINST the protests of the US.

[Jesus Malverde]

11. 47 executions in one day....

and the US is largely silent.

[ChairmanAgnostic]

13. Unforgivable on our part.

[daleo]

15. The phrase "mass execution" fits

It's an ugly phrase, though, generally reserved for regimes that the west officially disapproves of. "Friends" get a pass.

[Plucketeer]

16. Actually...

At least DOUBLE that many (unsanctioned) executions (murders) happen IN the USA every day - and NOTHING is done about it beyond local justice.

[Sunlei]

23. Those countries never got along.Foolish of the Iranian cleric to live in Saudi Arabia & preach out.

[roamer65]

24. He wasn't Iranian.

He was a Saudi citizen from the majority Shi'a Eastern province of Saudi Arabia.

This province contains most of the KSA's oil reserves and is majority Shi'a Arab, like southern Iraq and Iran's Khuzestan province.