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The Iranian pilgram riot arose from escalating tensions between Shiite Iran and Sunni Saudi Arabia. For years, Iranian pilgrims tried to stage political demonstrations in the Muslim holy city of Mecca during the hajj. On July 31, 1987, Iranian pilgrims tried to stage another political demostration but riot police attempted to break it up. 402 people were killed (275 Iranian and 85 Saudi policemen) and 650 wounded. The Saudi government blamed the riot on the Iranian pilgrims. The Saudi government also claimed that the Iranian pilgram riot was part of a wider plan to destabilize the Saudi regime. When news of the riots and deaths reached Iran the next day, Iranian government-organized mobs attacked the embassies of Kuwait and Saudi Arabia in Tehran, killing a diplomat. The next day, over a million Iranians gathered in Tehran calling for the overthrow of the shaikh of Saudi Arabia.