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Iran and Saudi Arabia are two of the most powerful states in the Middle East. Their rivalry is decades old and they have been fighting a proxy war in Yemen since last year. They are also supporting different sides in the ongoing war in Syria, with Iran backing Syria's government and the Saudis providing support for Sunni rebels.

In recent days, tensions between the two countries have rapidly escalated, following the execution of a beloved Shia leader, Nimr al-Nimr, by the Sunni monarchy in Saudi Arabia.

The execution sparked violent protests in Iran, which is pre-dominantly Shia. Iranian demonstrators attacked unoccupied Saudi diplomatic facilities, including the Saudi embassy in Tehran. The Saudi government cut diplomatic ties with Iran in response, and Iranian leaders have continued to issue condemnations of the execution.

"[T]he Saudi government, in order to cover up its crime of beheading a religious leader, has resorted to a strange measure and has severed its ties with the Islamic Republic," said Iranian President Hassan Rouhani.

Iran sees the killing of al-Nimr, who was likely beheaded during a mass execution of 47 people, as part of a larger campaign of oppression against the Shia minority in Saudi Arabia, which makes up around 12% of the population there. The kingdom's anti-Shia agenda also goes beyond Saudi borders, the Iranians say, accusing the monarchy of supporting Sunni terror groups in Syria and elsewhere. Tehran also believes the Saudis are committing human rights violations in their bombing campaign against Yemen s Houthi rebels, who practice a form of Shiism.

Al-Nimr was known for being dangerously outspoken about Shia rights in the Sunni kingdom, where members of the religious minority are treated as non-believers and barred from certain employment. The cleric was shot in the leg and arrested in 2012 for strong statements he made after the crackdown against Saudi protesters during the Arab Spring. For praising the death of the crown prince who led the crackdown, al-Nimr received a death sentence after a trial that was widely criticized as unfair.

President Rouhani argued that the angry reaction from Iranians was "natural" given the outrageous circumstances. His government promised to provide protection for diplomats and their facilities, however, and called on Western countries to do more to condemn the Saudi execution, which the president called a violation of religious and human rights.

"Criticism should not be responded to with beheading," said Rouhani. "We hope that European countries, which always react to issues of human rights, would act on their human rights-related obligations in this case, too."

The latest Iran-Saudi dispute puts Washington in a tricky position. Working with a complex set of considerations, the Obama administration has been noncommittal about assigning blame in the crisis. Instead, American diplomats have expressed more general concern while criticizing both sides for diplomatic failures.

"[Secretary of State John Kerry] is very concerned with the direction this thing is going," said an official from the State Department, adding that "[w]ith so much turmoil in the region, the last thing we need is for people not to be having conversations."

The US has long been a close ally of Saudi Arabia. Relations with Iran, on the other hand, have been officially severed since 1979, the year of that country's anti-American revolution. The current crisis between the rival Middle Eastern countries, however, stemming from the Saudi execution of a Shia cleric, touches on a sensitive point for American leadership.

The US, even before the start of this year, had expressed concerns "privately and publicly to Saudi leaders" about the kingdom's liberal use of the death penalty. Concerns have grown as US-based human rights groups have complained about the increasing frequency of executions in recent years, with the kingdom of 28 million now averaging an execution once every two days.

At the same time, the US response has partly been shaped by an evolving relationship with Iran. During recent days, Secretary Kerry has kept in contact with Iranian Foreign Minister Javad Zarif. Observers note that, until recently, this would have been unheard of and is happening now because, despite still lacking formal relations, the administration has cultivated closer ties with its Iranian counterpart. Cooperation with the Islamic Republic has increasingly been viewed by the administration as crucial to achieving some of its most important foreign policy goals.

The nuclear agreement signed with the Iranians last year, for instance, is set to take effect soon. Many believe President Obama sees that deal as central to his foreign policy legacy. In addition, the Iranians are expected to play an integral part in peace talks in Syria later this month. The talks are aimed at ending the fight between Sunni insurgents and Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, who is backed by Iran. That fight has killed hundreds of thousands, displaced millions, and created power vacuums that have facilitated the rise of the Islamic State (ISIS) and other jihadist groups. In other words, ending that conflict with Iran's help could be a key step for the administration toward defeating ISIS and re-establishing stability in the region.

As relations have badly deteriorated between Iran and Saudi Arabia, the Saudi government has defended its role in recent days and blamed the Iranians for escalating tensions.

The Saudis say that their execution of 47 individuals last week was legally justified. Most of those killed were terrorists affiliated with al-Qaeda, according to the government. Others were involved in efforts to incite violence. Nimr al-Nimr, the Shia cleric whose death provoked uproar in Iran, was convicted of trying to destabilize the country and stoke sectarian conflict. The cleric had made comments apparently celebrating the death of a crown prince and suggested that other members of the royal family should die.

Saudi leaders argue that Iran intentionally mischaracterized the executions and that Iranian leaders encouraged attacks on the kingdom s diplomatic facilities in Tehran. The Saudis have pointed to incendiary statements and the failure of Iranian security forces to put a halt to the violence, which did serious damage to the unoccupied buildings.

The Saudis argue that Iran s behavior during the embassy attack is consistent with an international agenda to meddle in other countries and destabilize the region. They point to Iran's support for Houthi rebels in Yemen, who are fighting against the internationally-recognized government there. Also, the Iranians have aided Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and his military, which has been widely accused of war crimes.

Saudi Arabia has been joined in condemning Iran by a number of other regional Sunni powers. Kuwait accused the Iranians of "a flagrant breach of international conventions" and recalled its ambassador. Bahrain, meanwhile, suspended all commercial flights to Iran.

Saudi criticism toward Iran in recent days has also been echoed from beyond the Middle East, including by the UN Security Council. In a statement, the Security Council "condemned in the strongest terms" the assaults on Saudi facilities by Iranians. The statement did not blame the Saudis for playing a role in the crisis. It did, however, suggest that Iranian leadership had fallen short of its obligations as a UN member, by failing to protect Saudi facilities in the country.

"[T]he members of the Security Council," the UN statement said, "[call] on the Iranian authorities to protect diplomatic and consular property and personnel, and to respect fully their international obligations in this regard."