The World : Saudis Warn Iran on Mecca

Saudi Arabia accused the Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini of Iran of using “hired elements” to disrupt this month’s pilgrimage to Mecca, where last year more than 400 people, mostly Iranians, died during rioting at Islam’s holiest site. Riyadh warned Iran that it would crack down hard on any political demonstrations or acts of sabotage at this year’s hajj pilgrimage. Sheik Abdul Wahhab Wasie, Saudi Arabia’s pilgrimage affairs and endowments minister, accused Khomeini, Iran’s supreme leader, of trying to “slip some elements of different nationalities among the pilgrims to carry out acts of sabotage.” Saudi-Iranian tensions over the hajj led Riyadh to cut diplomatic ties with Tehran in April.