Foreign Minister Julie Bishop says the Australian government is deeply disturbed by Saudi Arabia's mass execution of 47 people.
Ms Bishop also condemned protest attacks on the Saudi embassy in Tehran, after demonstrators stormed and set fire to it following the executions.
Most of the 47 men killed in what was Saudi Arabia's largest execution in three and a half decades were Sunnis, convicted of al Qaeda attacks in the kingdom a decade ago.
But it was the execution of prominent Shi'ite cleric Sheikh Nimr al-Nimr that has inflamed relations with Iran.
Saudi Arabia has announced it is severing diplomatic relations with Iran, calling home its diplomatic personnel and giving Iranian diplomatic personnel 48 hours to leave.
Ms Bishop has called on Iranian authorities to ensure proper protection of diplomatic facilities.
"We call on all parties to look for ways to calm the recent tension and to exercise restraint in their actions and comments," she said on Monday.
"The Australian government supports the universal abolition of the death penalty and we are deeply disturbed by the recent executions carried out in Saudi Arabia."
But Ben Rich, researcher of Saudi politics at the University of New England, said Australia would likely keep turning a blind eye to Saudi Arabia's human rights record.
He said human rights "play a very, very distant second fiddle" to resources when it comes to the oil-rich Middle East nation.
"We, for a very long time, ignored the human rights violations by Saudi Arabia and I suspect we will continue to do that," he said.
Opposition defence spokesman Stephen Conroy said it was disappointing to see states inflaming tensions in the Middle East as the world tries to combat terrorism in the region.
"It is something that is a worry," he told Sky News.
"Governments should be taking a deep breath before they engage in what can be considered provocative actions."
