Story highlights CNN's Wolf Blitzer interviews Adel al-Jubeir on Tuesday

Jubeir calls executed controversial cleric a "terrorist"

(CNN) In an interview with CNN's Wolf Blitzer on Tuesday, Saudi Arabia's foreign minister expressed cautious optimism about the Iran nuclear deal and defended his country's execution of a Shiite cleric beloved by Iran.

Tension between the countries has been pointed for a long time, but events lately -- including Nimr al-Nimr's execution -- have strained that relationship even further.

"Nimr al-Nimr is a terrorist, not a religious scholar," Adel al-Jubeir told Blitzer.

Speaking with some sarcasm, Jubeir added, "He's as much of a religious scholar as" Osama bin Laden was.

Nimr "recruited, justified, funded, equipped, plotted, and he engaged in terror attacks that left a number of security personnel dead."

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