Cutting diplomatic relations is the highest and clearest political expression of the aggravation of the dispute and hostility between two countries to an extent that almost touches the borders of open confrontation, and is sometimes

a precursor and an indication of the outbreak of armed conflict.

Embodiment of the estrangement


The diplomatic estrangement is materialized in that the decision-making state announces the official severance of its relations with the other state and at the same time summons its ambassador and its entire diplomatic mission from the other state and closes its diplomatic headquarters, and at the same time it is decided to expel the diplomats of the other state while giving them a deadline to arrange their affairs in a hurry , although the customs specify that period of time between 48 hours to a week.

The Vienna Conventions on Diplomatic and Consular Relations stipulate the inviolability of diplomatic premises and the continuation of that inviolability even in light of the diplomatic estrangement, which does not mean severing consular relations is necessary. Sometimes consular relations remain in place despite the diplomatic estrangement.

The interests of a particular country in the other country can be entrusted to a country or a third party, and the diplomatic estrangement does not mean banning the travel of the citizens of a concerned country towards the other country unless a sovereign decision is issued in this regard.

In many cases, the diplomatic rupture precedes the declaration of war, although the international context following the Second World War witnessed many cases of severing diplomatic relations without this causing an immediate armed conflict.

A historical overview The


Vienna Conventions on Diplomatic and Consular Relations are framed by the United Nations in 1961 and 1963. These agreements define the conditions and objectives of establishing diplomatic relations, the protection of diplomatic missions, and the immunity enjoyed by diplomats.

In fact, the roots of legalizing diplomatic relations go back to long periods during which customary law remained the only framework for these relations. Due to commercial and strategic interests, countries exchanged missions and embassies, so that the travel literature of Arabs and Muslims is full of stories of ambassadors and envoys.

Since the 12th century AD, the consuls in Italy appeared as a primitive expression of diplomatic representation between the Italian republics, as their role was limited to protecting the interests of merchants from their countries in other countries, and the scope of this practice was hardly beyond Italy at first, but the expansion of the Italians in trade made them They send consuls to the Levant, Jordan, Turkey and other parts of the Eastern Mediterranean, East Africa and Asia.

The 16th century witnessed a development in the reality of diplomatic relations in Europe, represented in the agreement of a number of countries to exchange ambassadors and diplomatic agents with their permanent residence, which was not known as the residence of diplomats was limited to specific periods and for certain tasks, and the main motive for this step was the establishment of a permanent mechanism for the exchange of Information between countries, providing permanent protection for traders from the country of origin in the hosting country.

However, the first broad international effort to legalize diplomatic relations was in 1815, when representatives of a number of European countries met in order to resolve a problem that poisoned the relations in that era, which is the arrangement of ambassadors according to the status of their countries in the country of approval during official occasions. The ambassador or diplomatic agent has his place in the protocol arrangement according to the status of his country and the strength of his relations with the host country.

The Vienna Conventions (1961-1963) framed diplomatic and consular relations and defined the conditions for the exchange of missions and linked them to a tribal agreement between the countries concerned, noting that the previous prevailing tradition continued to cast the principle of exchange in the accreditation of diplomatic missions and ambassadors.


Protection of diplomatic missions


The Vienna Conventions provide for diplomats and members of their families immunity from judicial prosecution and from arrest and imprisonment in the country of hospitality, regardless of the misdemeanors or crimes in which they are being pursued, even if the arrest warrant is issued by the local judiciary, although this privilege does not include consular agents and some members of the staff Diplomats who exercise administrative duties, these persons do not enjoy immunity unless they are pursued for acts committed during the performance of their work.

A diplomat can only be arrested by virtue of a decision by his country’s authority to lift his immunity, and the Vienna Agreements stipulate the inviolability of diplomatic premises even after the severance of relations, and despite that, hundreds of students supporting the Islamic Revolution in Iran stormed the American embassy in Tehran in November 1979, and took 44 of its crew and ordinary Americans were held hostage in what was known as the "hostage crisis".

As a result, the United States immediately recalled its ambassador, and as the crisis continued, it announced the severance of diplomatic relations, although that would not end it. It continued until Algerian mediation succeeded in putting an end to it in January 1981.

The last solution


expresses the severing of diplomatic relations with an extreme degree of tension that goes beyond all attempts at settlement. It also expresses a catastrophic failure in communication and solving inter-problems regardless of the responsibility or desire of this or that party for the escalation.

Usually the diplomatic rupture is the end of a process of tension that can be monitored in terms of the level of diplomatic representation. In the initial stages of tension, letters of protest are received and then followed by summoning the ambassador for consultation, and at a later stage, the level of diplomatic representation is reduced, and therefore severing relations is the last solution as the link Between two types of the most prominent mechanisms for protecting the interests offered by international relations, namely diplomatic relations and war.


Suddenness and gradualism The


adoption of this gradual sequence translates into a gradual deterioration of relations, which often means that the causes of tension are traditional and the steps taken are not provocative. Before motivated by provocative steps often linked to national sovereignty or security.

Here it is possible to point out the estrangement between Saudi Arabia and Iran in early 2016, which came against the backdrop of the Saudi authorities' execution of the Shiite dissident Nimr Baqir al-Nimr after he was convicted of "terrorism" issues.

Saudi Arabia considered the Iranian condemnation of the execution of Nimr a blatant interference in its affairs, but what exacerbated the matter in the following hours was the burning of demonstrators in Tehran and the scene of the Saudi embassy and consulate, which Riyadh considered an outright attack on it, and the Iranian official authorities were considered complicit in what happened.

However, a historical look at the relations of the two countries was able to understand this sudden and rapid deterioration. The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia - along with the Gulf states and a number of Arab countries - remained obsessed with exporting the Iranian revolution, which is taking more dangerous forms at the present time, most notably spreading Shiism and framing and directing Shiite minorities in Some Arab countries with a Sunni majority.

The Syrian revolution inflamed sectarian alignment in the region, and Iran is at the forefront of this confrontation due to its intervention in Iraq after the American invasion in 2001, then its military and political intervention on the side of the Syrian regime and prompting its allies in Lebanon (Hezbollah) to enter the armed confrontation in Syria. The sectarian dimension in all these situations.

Collective estrangement


Sometimes, the diplomatic estrangement speaks to the position of a number of parties towards a particular party, and in the Iranian-Saudi case of 2016, Gulf and Arab countries decided to sever their relations with Iran or summon their ambassadors and lower the level of relations.

In fact, the Annals of Arab Diplomacy maintains precedents in this regard. After Egyptian President Anwar Sadat's visit to Israel in 1977, the Arab countries decided to boycott Egypt, and that boycott continued for a decade.

In 1990, Iraq invaded Kuwait, and several Arab countries decided to cut diplomatic relations with Baghdad.

With the outbreak of the revolutionary revolution against the regime of President Bashar al-Assad in 2011, several Arab countries, along with Turkey, severed their relations with the Syrian regime as punishment for the widespread repression and heinous crimes it committed against its citizens.