Saudi Arabia’s execution of Shi’ite cleric Sheikh Nimr al-Nimr has exposed the dangerous political, religious and socio-economic fault lines which run through the kingdom and the Gulf. News of the execution sparked some unrest among Shi’ite communities in Saudi Arabia’s oil-rich Eastern Province and in neighboring Bahrain as well as in southern Iraq. Iran’s supreme leader effectively called for the overthrow of the Saudi monarchy, drawing a furious response from the Saudi government, which accused the Islamic Republic of interfering in the kingdom’s internal affairs. Iranian protesters stormed the Saudi embassy in Tehran, and Saudi Arabia responded by breaking off diplomatic relations and encouraging allied Sunni governments to do the same. Saudi Arabia’s ambassador to the United Nations told reporters on Monday “we are […]