Mina: The governor of Saudi Arabia’s Makkah region on Wednesday urged Muslim religious leaders to fight sectarianism, an indirect criticism of Iran.

Prince Khalid Al Faisal was speaking at a news conference to discuss the annual Haj pilgrimage, which ends on Thursday and has added to tensions between Riyadh and Tehran.

“I call on Muslim leaders, whether they are political leaders, ulemas (scholars), or intellectuals, to combat sectarianism,” Al Faisal said.

For the first time in nearly three decades, Iran’s 64,000 pilgrims are not attending the Haj in Saudi Arabia after the two regional rivals failed to agree on security and logistics.

“Combat this sectarian divide between Muslims. Islam is one and only one religion,” Al Faisal said in Mina, a pilgrimage site on the edge of Makkah.

Riyadh and Tehran have no diplomatic relations and have been engaged in a slanging match over the Haj since last week.

“Islam is unique. There is no multiple Islam,” said Al Faisal, president of the Central Haj Committee.

He said this year’s Haj occurred without incident despite “the lies and allegations ... of those who wanted to place in doubt the capacity of the kingdom to serve the pilgrims.”

Among its concerns over Iranian participation in this year’s Haj, Riyadh said Tehran had demanded the right to organise demonstrations.

Tehran in turn accused Riyadh of “blocking the path leading to Allah”.

Security was one of the contentious issues following last year’s Haj stampede which, according to foreign officials, killed roughly 2,300 people.

Iran reported the largest number of victims, at 464.

Just days before the Haj began on Saturday, Iran’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, questioned Saudi Arabia’s right to manage Islam’s holiest sites.

He insulted the Saudi ruling family accusing them of politicising the pilgrimage. Khamenei also alleged Saudi authorities “murdered” the stampede victims.

Saudi Arabia’s Grand Mufti Abdulaziz Al Shaikh retaliated by telling a newspaper that Iranians “are not Muslims”.

Reiterating a point made on Tuesday by King Salman Bin Abdulaziz, Al Faisal said Saudi Arabia does not interfere in Iran’s internal affairs “but we don’t permit the holy sites and the Haj to be used for political ends”.

More than 1.8 million faithful from around the world have been attending the annual pilgrimage.