Saudis, Iran Settling Bitter Dispute Over Mecca Pilgrimage, May Soon Resume Ties : Persian Gulf: Relations were severed three years ago after riots left hundreds dead. But now they are putting aside their differences.

RIYADH, Saudi Arabia —  Rival Muslim nations Saudi Arabia and Iran are settling a bitter dispute over pilgrimages to Mecca and may soon renew diplomatic relations that were severed three years ago after riots left hundreds of Iranian pilgrims dead, officials said Monday.

A joint statement issued by the two countries in the neighboring Persian Gulf state of Oman said agreement has been reached over annual treks to the western Saudi cities of Mecca and Medina, Islam’s two holiest sites. The pilgrimage is known as the hajj.

“We are on the road to re-establishing diplomatic relations and have made good inroads on the pilgrimage (issue),” the Saudi undersecretary for political affairs, Abdulrahman Manssori, told The Times.

The Iranian foreign minister, Ali Akbar Velayati, went even further:

“The kingdom of Saudi Arabia and the Islamic Republic of Iran have reached understanding on solving all problems between them and restoring diplomatic ties within the next 48 hours,” Velayati said in Oman after negotiations with his Saudi counterpart, Prince Saud al Faisal.

Iran has boycotted the journey to Mecca ever since 402 people, more than half of them Iranian pilgrims, were killed in clashes with Saudi security forces outside the Grand Mosque in 1987. Afterward, Saudi Arabia, already fearful of Iran’s radical brand of Islam, banned political demonstrations at the religious ritual and threatened to impose a limit on the number of Iranians allowed to attend.

Several months later, Saudi Arabia broke off diplomatic relations with Iran.

The dispute underscored long-simmering rivalry and bitterness that has existed between the two nations.

Non-Arab Iran, a nation of fundamentalist Shiite Muslims, often challenged Saudi Arabia, a rich, pro-U.S. Arab kingdom dominated by Sunni Muslims, over the Saudis’ claim to be the guardians of Islam. Until his death, the Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini regularly condemned the “vile and ungodly Saudis . . . like daggers that have always pierced the heart of the Muslims.”

Khomeini complained that the Saudi royal family, the House of Saud, was not worthy of the task of being in charge of the pilgrimage and the shrines of Mecca and Medina, which include the birthplace and the burial site of the Prophet Mohammed, who founded Islam in the 7th Century.

But with the advent of Islam’s holiest season, Ramadan, and in the wake of the Persian Gulf War against Iraq, an enemy that Iran shares with Saudi Arabia, the two governments seem now to be putting aside their differences.

Prince Saud and Velayati issued a joint statement saying that they had discussed the issues of the hajj and bilateral ties “in a positive framework.”

“An understanding in principle was reached between the two sides,” the statement said. Iran and Saudi Arabia “are hopeful a communique will be issued within the coming two days on bilateral ties.”

Velayati, speaking afterward, said diplomatic relations could be restored as quickly as within the next 48 hours.

Velayati’s comments and the joint statement were both made public in the Omani capital of Muscat and reported by the Omani news agency.

Oman was the site of a three-hour meeting Sunday between Saud and Velayati. Iran and Saudi Arabia had met in Geneva last month to initiate the talks.

Possibly because of Ramadan, a monthlong religious observance of daily fasting, the announcement appeared in just one Saudi newspaper, the Arabic-language As Sharq al Awsat, and was reported without comment on Saudi Television.

Manssori and diplomats here in the Saudi capital confirmed the reports out of Oman.

The diplomats said the Saudis had been eager to settle the dispute over the pilgrimages but suggested that Iran might be pushing the re-establishment of bilateral relations more quickly than the Saudis were prepared to accept.

“The Saudis see diplomatic relations and getting the hajj (issues) settled . . . as two questions quite separate,” a European diplomat said.

“It doesn’t look good if one nation boycotts the hajj,” the diplomat said. “It doesn’t look good for Saudi Arabia’s pan-Islamic credentials.”

Iran, at the same time, is trying to establish itself as a player in regional diplomatic and security issues.

Iran had demanded that political demonstrations be allowed during the pilgrimages and objected to Saudi plans to set a quota for Iranian pilgrims, cutting the allowed number from 150,000 to 45,000. Ever since the Shiite fundamentalists came to power in Iran in 1979, the hajj had been used by Iranians as a platform for political rallies.

In their compromise, Saudi Arabia reportedly agreed to accept 100,000 Iranian pilgrims who would be allowed to hear their prayer leader at a gathering outside Mecca.

Millions of pilgrims from Muslim communities worldwide travel to Mecca for the hajj observance, which usually occurs in May.

In the 1987 clashes, 275 Iranians and 85 Saudis were killed, along with other nationalities, and 600 pilgrims and security agents were injured. Riyadh accused Tehran of hiring people to carry out acts of sabotage, while the Ayatollah Khomeini blamed the United States for the violence. Iranian mobs attacked four embassies in Tehran--including those representing Saudi Arabia and Kuwait--in response to the deaths.

The friction over the hajj is but one trouble spot marring relations between the two countries. Saudi Arabia contributed millions of dollars to Iraq’s war effort against Iran during the 1980-88 Iran-Iraq War. During the just-ended Persian Gulf War, with Saudi Arabia a leading member of the allied coalition that defeated Iraq, Iran was officially neutral but criticized the presence of U.S. troops in the region.

Iran is now encouraging rebellions throughout Iraq, especially among Iraq’s large Shiite Muslim population. The Saudis, while eager to see Iraqi President Saddam Hussein ousted from power, are not eager to see a fundamentalist Shiite ruler sitting in Baghdad.

With such historical and current tensions, few observers here thought Iran and Saudi Arabia would reach agreement on the pilgrimages or bilateral relations quickly.

“It came a bit more suddenly than anyone expected,” a diplomat said.