RIYADH, Saudi Arabia: Iranian ambassador to Riyadh Mohammad Hosseini held talks with the Saudi Culture and Information Minister Iyad Madani and Deputy Interior Minister Mohammad Ibn Nayef on fatawa (verdicts) by extremist Saudi muftis calling for the destruction of the holy shrines.

The two Saudi officials said the attribution of such fatawa to Saudi clerics is surprising and as the Saudi government condemned attack on the holy Al-Askari shrine in Samarra, it would also condemn such statements and consider it against the interest of the Islamic world.

“We have repeatedly said that we strongly condemn any attack targeted against the holy Shiite and Sunni sites,” the Saudi officials stressed. “None of the official Saudi ulema and muftis have issued such a decree in regard to the desecration of the holy places.”