Tehran Moves to Calm Arab Anger at Iran Over Mecca Riots

Iran said Monday that it is sending delegations throughout the Muslim world in an apparent effort to stem a wave of anti-Iranian sentiment in the wake of violent clashes at Islam’s holiest shrines in Mecca.

The Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, Iran’s revolutionary leader, blamed the United States for the Iranian deaths and vowed revenge.

“We hold America responsible for these crimes,” the 87-year-old patriarch said in a message to leaders of Iranian pilgrims at the holy city in Saudi Arabia. “God willing, in an opportune time we shall deal with her.”

Khomeini did not say what action Iran would take against “arch-Satan” America.

Washington Lauds Saudis

In Washington, the State Department blamed Iranians for the violence and said Saudi authorities handled it responsibly. Department spokesman Charles Redman called the charge of U.S. involvement “totally baseless,” designed to “inflame passions and escalate tensions.”

Tehran radio said that Iran is sending seven delegations to “various” Islamic countries with a message from President Ali Khamenei about the violence in Mecca. The radio said the delegations would hold press conferences and meet with local officials.

“It is our turn to demonstrate the power and influence we have in various countries,” the radio said.

The first delegation is expected to visit the United Arab Emirates, which traditionally has kept the closest ties with Iran of any Arab country in the Persian Gulf region.

Despite those close relations, however, Dubai radio said that Emirates President Sheik Zayed ibn Sultan al Nuhayan had been in telephone contact with Saudi Arabia’s King Fahd on Monday to express support for Saudi Arabia’s handling of the clashes in Mecca last Friday.

Differing Toll Figures

The Saudis have said 402 people were killed and 649 were injured when Iranians demonstrating against the United States caused a stampede during the annual Hajj pilgrimage to Mecca. The dead included 275 Iranians.

However, Tehran radio quoted an Iranian official as saying the toll had risen to at least 600 Iranian dead and 4,500 wounded. But in a seemingly contradictory report, it also quoted an Iranian doctor, the medical supervisor for Iranian pilgrims in Mecca, as saying that the Iranian death toll was 319 and the total wounded 5,000, according to the Reuters news agency.

The Iranian decision to send delegations throughout the Islamic world apparently reflected sensitivity in Tehran to a wave of anti-Iranian feeling that immediately spread among Muslims after the clashes.

There was widespread belief, particularly in the Arab world, that Iran used the pilgrimage for political ends in defiance of a Koranic injunction against the slightest violence during the Hajj, even prohibiting the killing of a fly.

‘Drop the Olive Branch’

“Let us drop the olive branch we have been waving for years because it will not withstand Iran’s poisonous stings,” the Kuwaiti newspaper Al Anba proclaimed. “Let us free ourselves of the dreams of peace because it is not fit for peace. Let us all--in Kuwait, Saudi Arabia and all Arab countries--close ranks and besiege the poisonous snake in its lair and extract its poisonous fang. . . . “

Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak expressed Egypt’s “solidarity and support for the actions taken by Saudi Arabia to preserve the holy shrines and ensure the safety and security of the pilgrims.”

Jordan’s King Hussein also condemned the violence, as did leaders in Morocco and Tunisia. Syrian President Hafez Assad, who has been close to Tehran in the past, expressed his regret at the violence.

Syria, a supporter of the Tehran regime, was also reported to be trying to mediate the dispute between Saudi Arabia and Iran.

Libya’s Col. Moammar Kadafi, another ally of Iran, suggested that the Mecca shrines should be placed under an international Islamic administration, saying the holy places are “no longer safe.”

Turkey was reported to have suggested that a fleet of Syrian trucks, used to transport Turkish sheep to Mecca, be used to facilitate the return of the Iranian bodies. The bodies could then be flown to Iran from Turkey and Syria, the report said.

In Saudi Arabia, the annual pilgrimage period drew to a close with the slaughter of thousands of sheep in a ritual sacrifice. Saudi Arabia’s Arab News said calm had returned to Mecca and the flow of pilgrims around the shrine, including thousands of Iranians, was “smooth and orderly.”

“A few policemen on duty were seen with bandages on their hands and some (were) limping due to the attack on them by the Iranian pilgrims,” the newspaper reported.

Other reports indicated a heavy security presence of armed police, on foot and in vehicles, and helicopters.