21.   Saudi commandoes on Monday tore down a sign bearing political slogans posted in Mecca by Iranian pilgrims in defiance of a Saudi ban, security officials said.

22.   Saudi Arabia is wary of Iranian pilgrims, with whom it has had trouble in the past, and keeps a close watch on them.

23.   The official press has said Iraq has completed refurbishing of Mundhariya, the border post through which Iranian pilgrims are expected to pass.

24.   Thus a delay would push back any trial and execution of alleged bombers until after tens of thousands of Iranian pilgrims return home from Saudi Arabia.

25.   Twenty-five Iranians and two Turks died Thursday when a bus carrying Iranian pilgrims collided with a fuel truck and burst into flames near this southeastern city.

26.   He also hoped the two countries would soon have an agreement for Iranian pilgrims to visit Shiite Moslem sites in Iraq.

27.   However, the Saudis appear to have been spared the annual headache of political demonstrations by Iranian pilgrims this year amid warming relations between Riyadh and Tehran.

28.   In recent years Iranian pilgrims have been allowed to visit the holy sites overland.

29.   Iran frequently criticizes the US military presence in Saudi Arabia and has called on Iranian pilgrims in the past to stage anti-American demonstrations while in the kingdom.

30.   Iranian pilgrims held an anti-American demonstration at Mount Arafat near Mecca on Tuesday in defiance of the Saudi authorities, the official Iranian news agency IRNA said.