Saudi Arabia’s Grand Mufti Sheikh Abdulaziz Al al-Sheikh

MECCA — Saudi Arabia’s top religious authority said Iran’s leaders are not Muslims, drawing a rebuke from Tehran in an unusually harsh exchange between the regional rivals over the running of the annual Haj pilgrimage.

Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, in a message published on Monday, criticized Saudi Arabia over how it runs the Haj after a crush last year killed hundreds of pilgrims. He said Saudi authorities had “murdered” some of them, describing Saudi rulers as godless and irreligious.

Responding to a question by Saudi newspaper Makkah, Saudi Arabia’s Grand Mufti Sheikh Abdulaziz Al al-Sheikh said he was not surprised at Khamenei’s comments.

“We have to understand that they are not Muslims … Their main enemies are the followers of Sunnah (Sunnis),” Al al-Sheikh was quoted as saying.

He described Iranian leaders as sons of “magus”, a reference to Zoroastrianism, the dominant belief in Persia until the Muslim Arab invasion of the region that is now Iran 13 centuries ago.

Khamenei met with the families of Iranians killed in last year’s disaster on Wednesday and called for a fact-finding committee to investigate the cause of the crush.

“The evil family tree of the Saudi dynasty does not have the competence to manage the holy shrines,” Khamenei said.

Al-Sheikh’s remarks drew an acerbic retort from Iran’s Foreign Minister, Mohammad Javad Zarif, who said they were evidence of bigotry among Saudi leaders.

“Indeed; no resemblance between Islam of Iranians & most Muslims & bigoted extremism that Wahhabi top cleric & Saudi terror masters preach,” Zarif wrote on his Twitter account.

Saudi authorities normally seek to avoid public discussion of whether Shi’a are Muslims, but implicitly recognize them as such by welcoming them to the Haj, and by accepting Iranian visits to the Saudi-based Organization of Islamic Cooperation.

Tensions between the two countries have been rising since Saudi Arabia cut ties with Iran in January following the storming of its embassy in Tehran, itself a response to the Saudi execution of dissident cleric Nimr al-Nimr.