Kuwait has recalled its ambassador to Iran following the execution of a Shia leader in Saudi Arabia.
The Saudi embassy in Tehran was pillaged and burned on Saturday after its government executed 46 on Saturday, including Shia cleric Sheikh Nimr al-Nimr. In response, Saudi Arabia severed diplomatic relations with Iran on Monday. The Sunni nation's allies Bahrain and Sudan followed suit. Kuwait marks the most recent nation to join them.
The conflict follows religious sectarian disputes. Iran found Saudi Arabia's action particularly offensive because the Sunni nation executed a Shia leader. Iran is the only country in the world that hosts a Shia majority and is governed by a Shia government.
"[Saudi Arabia] cannot hide its crime of beheading a religious leader by severing political relations with Iran," said Iranian President Hassan Rouhani, according to the BBC.
The attack on the Saudi embassy in Tehran, however, has been condemned by Iranian officials. Brig. Gen. Mohsen Kazemini, commander of the Tehran unit of the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps, a conservative military group, described the attack as "totally wrong," according to RT.
While several countries have downgraded their diplomatic ties with Iran, other Sunni-led nations have grown silent. Fearing internal insurgencies of their own, Egypt and Pakistan have remained conspicuously neutral.
Turkey has gone so far as to call for peace and calm. "Diplomatic channels must be given a chance immediately," said Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu, according to the New York Times.
The escalating sectarian conflict is concerning to those who hoped for peace in Syria and Yemen. Staffan Mistura, the UN's international envoy for peace in Syria, is struggling to reach out to the two nations. If the conflict cannot be solved soon, there appears to be little hope for the peace conference scheduled for the end of the month in Syria.
