Word: meccas
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...fury fresh and lethal. "Death to America!" they chanted in the near 100 degrees heat. Their rage rose higher still as Hashemi Rafsanjani, the speaker of Iran's parliament, called upon Allah to "avenge the blood" of nearly 300 Iranian pilgrims who had been killed a week earlier in Mecca, Islam's holiest city. Rafsanjani also uttered a demand that sent a tremor through the Arab world and beyond: the rulers of Saudi Arabia, the keepers of Mecca, must be "uprooted...
Then came the hypnotic voice of Ayatullah Ruhollah Khomeini, 87, still the country's supreme leader. Speaking in fierce whispers over nationwide radio, Khomeini first lashed out at the "inept and spineless" Saudi Arabian royal family. But he placed the blame for the bloody deaths in Mecca squarely on the U.S., still the "Great Satan" in the eyes of the fevered Iranian nation, and vowed vengeance. Promised Khomeini: "God willing, at the opportune time we shall deal with...
...nations broke off relations last month. The French aircraft carrier Clemenceau last week steamed to the gulf as Iranian police continued to hold 15 French citizens hostage in the French embassy in Tehran. Tensions remained high between Iran and Britain over earlier incidents involving their diplomats. After the Mecca tragedy, gangs ransacked the Kuwaiti and Saudi Arabian embassies in the Iranian capital and took four Saudis prisoner...
Since Khomeini came to power in 1979, tensions have been especially high during the hajj, the pilgrimage to Mecca that annually attracts more than 2 million Muslims from some 130 countries. Khomeini viewed the sacred occasion as the ideal time to deliver his revolutionary message, but the Saudis blocked that goal by banning demonstrations and limiting the number of Iranians allowed into the country. Last year Saudi police discovered more than 110 lbs. of explosives hidden in the luggage of 500 Iranian pilgrims...
...conservative Saudi rulers, the bloodshed at Mecca was appalling and terrifying. Iran's revolutionary zeal had penetrated the borders of one of the most cautious and security-conscious countries in the world. "We are determined to defend our land and our holy places by all means," declared King Fahd. Arab leaders from Bahrain to Morocco rallied behind Riyadh and condemned the rioters...