Iran

Tehran have told the United States that they will return the ten sailors who are currently being held hostage by Iran in the Gulf, by Wednesday.  Two U.S. Navy vessels were held in Iranian custody on Tuesday as the boats travelled one mile within Iranian territory without permission. Iranian officials have accused America of attempting to ‘snoop’ around Iranian waters, but agreed to return the sailors aboard the vessels after John F. Kerry spoke with Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif about the incident.

Submitted by Jon Schwartz via The Intercept,

The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia executed Shiite Muslim cleric Nimr al-Nimr on Saturday. Hours later, Iranian protestors set fire to the Saudi embassy in Tehran. On Sunday, the Saudi government, which considers itself the guardian of Sunni Islam, cut diplomatic ties with Iran, which is a Shiite Muslim theocracy.

A senior Commander of the Islamic Revolution Guards in Iran has said that Saudi Arabia is on the brink of collapse following the execution of prominent Shiite cleric Nimr Baqir al-Nimr.  General Hossein Salami warned on Friday that “The Al Saud will collapse in the near future if it keeps on its sectarian policies in the region,” adding that the “Saudi rulers will be buried under the avalanche that they have created”.

Paul Pillar makes the case against taking either side in the Saudi-Iranian rivalry:

It would be just as much of a mistake for the United States to tilt in favor of Iran in this conflict as it is to tilt in favor of Saudi Arabia. Taking either side in this rivalry, as with many other international rivalries, entails several disadvantages for the United States.

Saudi warplanes attacked Iran’s embassy in the Yemeni capital Sanaa on Wednesday nigh, injuring a number of embassy staff, according to Iran’s Foreign Ministry. Rudaw reports: “This deliberate and intentional act by the Saudi Arabian government is in violation of all international conventions and legal treaties regarding the protection and impunity of diplomatic compounds under all circumstances.” The spokesman of Iran’s Foreign Ministry, Hossein Jaberi Ansari told Iran’s state television.