Iran Rounds Up 100 Suspects Accused of Torching Saudi Embassy and Consulate

Iran has rounded up nearly 100 people who stormed Saudi Arabia's embassy in Tehran and set a Saudi consulate ablaze in the city of Mashhad earlier this month. The move comes as the US tries to mend fences between Saudi Arabia and Iran ahead of a diplomatic push to end the war in Syria, a conflict that pits Iranian allies against Saudi-backed rebel forces.

"Since the attack, about 100 people have been arrested, of whom some have been released," Gholamhossein Mohseni Ejeie, a spokesman for Iran's judiciary, told the official IRNA news agency. He did not give further details about the identity of those arrested, or say how many have been released, but emphasized that the attack on the embassy "has been condemned by all authorities."

An official from Iran's Interior Ministry reportedly said that the main suspect in the embassy protest was arrested abroad and extradited to Iran. The suspect's name and the country where he was arrested were not disclosed.

Angry mobs attacked Saudi Arabia's embassy in Tehran and its consulate in the city of Mashhad on January 2 after the Saudis executed prominent Shiite cleric Nimr al-Nimr. Iran is a majority Shiite country, and al-Nimr had advocated for the rights of Shiites in Saudi Arabia, which is a majority Sunni kingdom. The Saudis maintained that al-Nimr was a terrorist, and he was one of 47 prisoners put to death on the same day. Saudi Foreign Minister Abdul al-Jubier said that al-Nimr was "as much of a religious scholar as Osama bin Laden."

Related: Why the Fight Between Iran and Saudi Arabia Isn't About Religion

UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon remarked that he was "deeply dismayed" by the execution, saying the case raised "serious concerns" about the Saudi justice system.

After the execution was announced, a crowd gathered outside the Saudi mission in Tehran. As protesters chanted anti-Saudi slogans, some hurled stones and Molotov cocktails, eventually setting part of the complex ablaze. After a contingent of demonstrators stormed the building, Iranian police broke up the protest. A similar scene unfolded in Mashhad, where the Saudi consulate was also torched.

Iran blamed the incident on extremists and quickly arrested 44 people accused of participating in the the protest. Both Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khamenei and President Hassan Rouhani condemned the attacks in the weeks that followed.

"The actions last night by a group of radicals in Tehran and Mashhad leading to damage at the Saudi embassy and consulate are totally unjustifiable, as the buildings should be legally and religiously protected in the Islamic Republic of Iran," Rouhani said on the day after the incident.

Rouhani called on the country's judiciary to find and prosecute those responsible. "By punishing the attackers and those who orchestrated this obvious offense, we should put an end once and forever to such damage and insults to Iran's dignity and national security," Rouhani said.

Just last week, Khamenei called the embassy incident "detrimental to the country and Islam." But despite the displays of contrition, Saudi-Iranian relations have frayed in recent week. Immediately after the Saudi embassy attack, the Kingdom severed diplomatic ties with Iran, and convinced several of its Gulf allies to follow suit.

The diplomatic scuffle comes at a key time. The US is trying to orchestrate peace talks that convene all sides of the ongoing war in Syria, where Iran supports embattled President Bashar al-Assad and Saudi Arabia funnels guns and funds to opposition groups in the country. At the same time, the US and Iran have just finalized a nuclear deal, which removed certain economic sanctions as Iran curbs its nuclear capabilities. Saudi Arabia initially balked at any nuclear agreement, but has come to accept the deal in recent months, at least in public.

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Over the weekend, US Secretary of State John Kerry visited Riyadh to reassure Saudi Arabia of its commitments to the alliance between the two countries, which sees billions of dollars in US military hardware flow to the kingdom each year. "We have made it clear that we stand with our friends in Saudi Arabia," Kerry said at a joint press conference with the Saudi foreign minister.

Behind the scenes, however, US State Department officials have pushed Saudi Arabia to play nice with Iran. A State Department official speaking on the condition of anonymity called the Iranian contrition over the embassy incident "significant."

"Hopefully… the situation will resolve," the official said. "And that the Saudis will find their way forward in reopening their embassy in Tehran."

Follow Avi Asher-Schapiro on Twitter: @AASchapiro