The World - News from April 24, 1988

An Iranian leader said that Tehran may boycott this year’s pilgrimage to the holy Muslim city of Mecca if Saudi Arabia insists on placing curbs on its nationals. The Iranian news agency IRNA quoted Medhi Emam Jamarani, the official responsible for Iran’s pilgrims, as saying that a final decision lay with the Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, the nation’s supreme leader. Saudi Arabia has said that the number of Iranians making the pilgrimage, or haj, must be limited to 45,000, compared with the usual 150,000, and that they will not be allowed to stage political demonstrations. More than 400 people, mostly Iranians, were killed in clashes in Mecca last year.