TEHRAN, Sept 9: Iran has urged Saudi Arabia to crack down on religious extremism following reports of anti-Shia sermons by Saudi preachers, the official IRNA news agency reported on Sunday.

It said Iran’s ambassador to Riyadh Mohammad Hosseini asked the head of Saudi Arabia’s advisory Shura Council to ensure Iranian pilgrims travelling during the holy month of Ramazan were not the victims of ‘insults’. “He requested a crackdown on ignorant, deviant people in the holy mosques” at Mekkah and Madina, IRNA said.

The report said Hosseini asked the council’s head Sheikh Saleh bin Humaid to “to take necessary measures to prevent any kind of insult to the Iranian pilgrims”. Large numbers of Iranians are expected to perform the Umrah, or minor pilgrimage, to Makkah and Madina during Ramazan.

But in recent months Iran has expressed concern over unconfirmed reports that extremist Sunni clerics in Saudi Arabia have been issuing anti-Shia sermons and pamphlets.

The foreign ministry said last month Iran was probing complaints that a prayer leader in Makkah verbally attacked Shia Muslims and implied they had “nothing to do with Islam”.—AFP