The relationship between the two key rival power centres of West Asia, Iran and Saudi Arabia, acknowledged to be the world centres of the Shia and Sunni communities respectively, has nosedived since Riyadh executed a leading Shia cleric along with 45 others — mainly thought to be individuals linked to Al Qaeda — on Saturday.
The reaction in Tehran was unusually strong, and the crowd torched a section of the Saudi embassy in the Iranian capital. The Saudis have cut off diplomatic ties with Iran. They did not heed the admonition of Iranian President Hassan Rouhani to his countrymen who engaged in the vandalism. The Iranian leader even said the act had brought his country a bad name.
The sectarian Shia-Sunni cleavage, which underpins the various flashpoints in the region except the Palestine-Israel question, is thus the widest it has been in decades. For a start, the Iran-Saudi standoff places at risk the diplomatic and political resolution to the Syrian crisis that Washington and Moscow have patiently tried to bring about along with key international and regional powers, including Tehran and Riyadh. The political and military situation in the fragile Afghan theatre can also potentially be affected, and this should be of immense concern to New Delhi.
India has fruitful bilateral relations with both Tehran and Riyadh. It must play a fine watching game. The balance of its interests appears to lie in being above the fray, and at every stage offering its counsel against escalation in any form or forum.
