A senior Saudi official, responding to Iranian criticism of Riyadh's management of the haj pilgrimage, urged Iran to end what he called wrong attitudes toward Arabs and warned it against any use of force in its rivalry with the kingdom. No top Iranian leader has called for war with Saudi Arabia, something neither country wants. But last year's haj disaster, and the execution in January of dissident Saudi Shi'ite cleric Nimr al-Nimr, triggered months of scathing Iranian criticism of the kingdom. Iran blamed the 2015 haj disaster on Saudi incompetence, and Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei on Sept. 5 said some of the Iranians who died had been "murdered" by Saudi Arabia. He said Muslims should not let Saudi rulers escape responsibility for "crimes" he said they had committed in Arab conflicts.

Source: Egypt Independent September 15, 2016 08:37 UTC