The regime has been unusually strong in its condemnation, suggesting to some observers that it is trying to pick a fight rather than trying to stop the decline in bilateral relations of recent months.
No one in Iran has claimed that the men are innocent of the drug smuggling charges.
The complaints leveled by various officials against Saudi Arabia include:
• Execution—although Iran has the highest rate of executions in the entire world.
• Refusing to grant Iranian diplomats consular access to the prisoners as required by international treaty—although Iran has repeatedly denied other countries consular access to foreign prisoners in Iranian jails.
• Failure to allow the accused to have access to a lawyer—although Iran frequently tries its own citizens without a defense lawyer present.
Iranian news reports have said the men were arrested by the Saudis five years ago when they were discovered sailing in the Persian Gulf on a boat loaded with narcotics. Drug possession is punishable by death in both Iran and Saudi Arabia.
Iranian officials have said they have confirmation from Saudi Arabia that some numbers of the arrested men have recently been executed. The number has varied from four to 18 in published accounts in Iran. The Saudi government has said nothing publicly.
Recently, Iran summoned the Saudi charge d’affaires to the Foreign Ministry to hear Iran’s complaint. It also announced and then canceled a plan to send a deputy foreign minister to Riyadh to complain.
Foreign Ministry spokesman Ramin Mehman-Parast said, “Saudi Arabia should be aware that the execution of Iranian nationals will have political repercussions for the country and the issue will be pursued through the relevant [international] organizations.”
The Islamic Republic routinely says that it will take its complaints against other governments to international courts, but it isn’t known to have done so since the 1980s, when it partially won a case against the United States in the International Court of Justice.
The Majlis also got into the act with one deputy demanding that the Saudi ambassador be expelled.
The Mehr news agency carried a commentary saying, “Political analysts say the action showed that Riyadh is taking advantage of Iran’s dispute with the West over its nuclear program. The Saudis may claim that the executions were carried out in line with the country’s laws, but the hasty decision to issue death sentences looked more like something out of medieval times. There is no justification for these Iranian citizens’ involvement in drug dealing, but the punishment was not commensurate with the crime and was far too harsh.”