Saudi Arabia breaks diplomatic ties with Iran

Saudi Arabia has given Iranian diplomats 48 hours to leave the country, amid a row over the Saudi execution of a top Shia Muslim cleric.

Saudi Foreign Minister Adel al-Jubeir announced on Sunday the country had broken off diplomatic ties with Iran.

Iran said this would not distract from Riyadh's "big mistake" in executing the cleric, the IRNA agency reported.

The United States has appealed for calm, saying diplomatic engagement is essential to resolve differences.

Sheikh Nimr al-Nimr and 46 others were executed on Saturday after being convicted of terror-related offences.

Saudi police were shot at late Sunday in his home village, the country's official SPA news agency said. Security forces were looking for the attackers, calling the incident a "terrorist" act, SPA reported citing a police spokesman.

Saudi Arabia announced that it would sever diplomatic relations with Iran after demonstrators stormed the Saudi embassy in Tehran. It has also recalled its diplomats from Tehran.

Jubeir said Saudi Arabia would not let Iran undermine its security, accusing it of having "distributed weapons and planted terrorist cells in the region".

"Iran's history is full of negative interference and hostility in Arab issues, and it is always accompanied by destruction," he told a news conference.

Most of the 47 people executed by Saudi Arabia were Sunnis convicted of involvement in al-Qaeda-linked terror attacks over the last decade.

Sheikh Nimr was involved in anti-government protests that erupted in Saudi Arabia in the wake of the Arab Spring, up to his arrest in 2012.

The execution sparked new demonstrations in Saudi Arabia's Eastern Province, where Shia Muslims complain of marginalisation, as well as in Iraq, Bahrain and several other countries.

The top Shia cleric in Iraq, Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani denounced the execution as an "unjust aggression".