The Hajj ban as leverage
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The Hajj ban as leverage is John Kiriakou's answer to a question asked during the 2026 Iran war: with Saudi Arabia declaring that all trust with Iran was lost after strikes on Saudi facilities, what would a Saudi response actually look like?

His answer began with the conventional options, Riyadh "could break relations again, or even just recall ambassadors," and he would not be surprised if it broke relations, the diplomatic relationship being only about three years old after decades without one.

Then the real instrument: "if you really want to hurt the Iranians, you forbid Iranians from making the Hajj, the pilgrimage to Mecca." He prefaced it with a warning against underrating it, "this is going to sound silly, but it's actually quite important."

The precedent

Kiriakou says it has been done: "They did that for a couple of years, 1979, 1980, 1981. And it was a crisis, let me tell you." The crisis escalated, "to the point where the Iranians started carrying out terrorist attacks against Saudis," and, in his account, supported a takeover by Saudi radicals in which people were killed.

His forecast was that this, rather than a military reply, is where the Saudis would begin: "My guess is that's what the Saudis are going to start with. Just ban all Iranians from the Hajj."

Why a military reply is unlikely is treated at Saudi military composition.

See also

- Saudi-Iran diplomatic rivalry
- Composition of the Saudi military
- Saudi Arabia and radicalism
- 2026 Iran war
