Saudi prince responds to Iran’s Hajj criticisms

A senior Saudi official, responding to Iranian criticism of Riyadh’s management of the Hajj pilgrimage, urged Iran to end what he called wrong attitudes towards Arabs and warned it against any use of force in its rivalry with the kingdom.

Makkah province governor Prince Khaled al-Faisal added that the orderly conduct of the pilgrimage this year “is a response to all the lies and slanders made against the kingdom”.

The remarks carried by the official Saudi Press Agency (SPA) on Wednesday evening follow an escalating war of words between Iran and Saudi Arabia since a crush at the annual Hajj pilgrimage a year ago in which hundreds of pilgrims died.

SPA quoted Prince Khaled as telling journalists his message to the Iranian leadership was “I pray to God Almighty to guide them and to deter them from their transgression and their wrong attitudes toward their fellow Muslim among the Arabs in Iraq, Syria, Yemen and around the world”.

Riyadh broke off relations with Tehran after its embassy there was attacked by Iranians protesting against Nimr’s death.