Former Deputy CIA Director Michael Morell said Sunday that Iran „acted responsibly“ in dealing with protesters who set the Saudi Arabian Embassy in Tehran on fire this weekend.

„The police showed up very quickly. They made a number of arrests,“ Morell said on CBS‘ „Face the Nation.“

A crowd gathered outside the Saudi embassy in Tehran Sunday after Saudi Arabia announced it had executed Shiite cleric Sheikh Nimr al-Nimr on Saturday along with 46 others. Some of the protesters threw Molotov cocktails at the building, which set off a fire.

Tom Donilon, the former National Security Advisor to President Obama, called the reaction in Iran „predicted and predictable“ but said that it makes things harder for the U.S.

„At the same time that the United States is seeking to lower tensions in the region in pursuit of an effort against [the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria] and a political process in Syria, this raises tension,“ he said. „Saudi Arabia looks around and sees what Iran‘s doing in Beirut and in Damascus and in Sanaa and in Baghdad and feels, I think, a threat. And it also reflects this competition for influence in the region between Saudi Arabia and Iran.“