Saudi Arabia and Iran cut off diplomatic ties over an execution. New York Times.

The Saudi embassy in Tehran burns after protesters set it on fire. New York Times.

Saudi Arabia and Iran have cut off diplomatic ties over Saudi Arabia's execution of a popular Shiite cleric. New York Times. Saudi Arabia executed Sheik Nimir al-Nimir, an outspoken critic of the Saudi Royal family and a figurehead in the countries Shiite minority. In response protesters in Tehran burned the Saudi embassy. Iran did arrest several of the protesters but that was not enough to save diplomatic relations. Defense officials fear that the collapse in diplomatic relations may lead to further escalations in the proxy wars between the two countries. Both countries have sent massive amounts of support and money to both Syria and Yemen. Foreign governments, including the United States, either publicly or privately condemned the execution of al-Nimir. 

My Comment:

Fairly disturbing developments out of the Middle East. Iran and Saudi Arabia were never close and have been enemies for as long as I remember. But at least in the past they were still talking to each other. That is no longer the case and no good is likely to come from this development. With no lines of communication, it is much more likely that any kind of skirmish or incident between the two countries could lead to war. It's not all that likely still, but the chances are slightly better then they used to be. I don't think either side would start a war on purpose, but I think there is a chance the situation could spiral out of control. 

The much more likely proposition is that both Iran and Saudi Arabia increase their spending in the various proxy conflicts going on in the Middle East. I am not too worried about Yemen since there is very little for Iran to do there. Saudi Arabia controls both the airspace and ocean around Yemen so there is little chance of Iran sending troops or even supplies to the Houthi rebels fighting against Saudi Arabia and their Yemeni allies. The war will continue though, but at the same intensity it is at now. Iran can't do anything to stop it, or even much to help the Houthis. 

Syria is much more of an issue. Both sides in that conflict are sending weapons and money to the various militias in the conflict. Iran is supporting Hezbollah and has gone so far as to deploy troops to fight for the Syrian regime. On the Saudi side, they are supplying the so called "secular" rebels and various Jihadi groups. Each side could increase their support for their proxy armies. Iran could deploy more troops and the Saudis could even send in airstrikes. Either action would cause the already bloody war to become much worse then it is now.

There is a lot more at stake then just Syria and Yemen though. Both Saudi Arabia and Iran are battling for the soul of Islam itself. Both sides think that their brand of the religion is the correct one and both sides are doing their best to inflame tensions between Sunni and Shiite Islam. It's the reason I suspect that even if the Syrian and Yemen conflicts ended today, and even if ISIS was utterly destroyed, there would still be conflict in the Middle East. There is just too much bad blood between Shiite and Sunni for conflict to disappear and both Iran and Saudi Arabia are determined to make it worse. I don't even think it matters which side "wins" at this point... 

Which makes me think that this was a deliberate attempt by the Saudi's to increase tensions. Sure, I get the argument that they were just dealing with a dissident. But there were other ways of dealing with him instead of just murdering him. They knew what kind of impact that the execution would have and knew that Iran and Shiite Muslims in general would be furious about it. They wanted it to happen.

Why? Well, for one they hate Shiite Muslims. That much is obvious. But in addition to that, Saudi Arabia is losing millions of dollars due to low oil prices. Most of that is the fault of the Saudis, who want to destroy the US oil industry. At least that was the plan. The problem is that the wars in Yemen and Syria are breaking the budget. It's possible they bit off more then they could chew in those war and now they need to increase oil prices to stay in the black. I can't prove that theory, but I think it might be true. 

Finally, I can't understand why we are still allied with Saudi Arabia. They obviously don't value human life that America has. Here, if you criticize the government or the President, you don't get punished at all, unless you threaten violence. In Saudi Arabia they execute you. They treat women and minorities terribly, and are partially responsible for all the chaos in the Middle East right now. They were involved in the creation of al-Qaeda and even ISIS, and still support radical militias in Syria. They are waging economic warfare on our oil industry, doing everything in their power to knock them  out of business. In short, the Saudi Arabians are not our friends and we should seriously reconsider our relationship with them...