Saudi Arabia has announced it is severing diplomatic ties with Iran following Saturday's attack on its embassy in Tehran during protests.
Adel al-Jubeir, the Saudi foreign minister, made the announcement on Sunday while the foreign ministry announced that it would ask the Iranian diplomatic mission to leave the kingdom within 48 hours.
The Saudi foreign ministry also announced that the staff of its diplomatic mission had been evacuated and were on their way back to the kingdom.
At a press conference in Riyadh, Jubeir said that during Saturday's protests in Tehran, the Saudi diplomatic representative there asked for help from the Iranian foreign ministry, but the requests were disregarded three times.
Speaking to Al Jazeera from Beirut, Lebanon, Joseph Kechichian, a Middle East analyst, said the Saudi decision was "quite a surprise".
"This is an escalation that will create havoc in the region," he said, referring to the latest developments.
Ellie Geranmayeh, an Iran expert at the European Council on Foreign Relations, said the Saudi decision was likely to have repercussions in the region, particularly concerning the Syrian negotiations.
"Western powers must increase efforts to safeguard this process and encourage the Saudis and Iran to continue participation [in the Syria peace talks]," she told Al Jazeera from London.
"These events further set back the urgently needed rapprochement between Tehran and Riyadh, and spell further trouble for an already fragile region."
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