Hundreds of thousands of Muslim pilgrims from all over the world, grouped by nationality, stoned the devil in Saudi Arabia's Mina valley on Saturday, as the hajj reached its final stages.

Men, women and children from 189 countries, many of whom had saved for years to make the trip, hurled pebbles at three vast stone pillars representing Satan, shouting "Allahu akbar (God is Greatest)."

Prime Minister Najib Miqati did not present his resignation in light of the assassination of Internal Security Forces Intelligence Bureau head Wissam al-Hasan, reported Al-Joumhouria newspaper Monday.

It said that the premier did not speak of resigning to President Michel Suleiman or the cabinet.

Iran's foreign ministry on Saturday rejected a guilty plea by an Iranian-American man that he conspired with Iranian officials to kill the Saudi ambassador in Washington.

Manssor Arbabsiar pleaded guilty on Wednesday at the New York federal court to attempting to hire a Mexican drug gang for $1.5 million to blow up the Saudi envoy in a restaurant he frequented in Washington.

Saudi Arabia condemned on Saturday the "terrorist" car bombing that killed Internal Security Forces Intelligence Bureau head Brigadier General Wissam al-Hasan, and warned of chaos if the culprits were not caught.

The kingdom "condemns this criminal act," a Saudi official said in a statement carried by the SPA state news agency.

The Saudi coastguard have arrested a group of Iranians who attempted to infiltrate the country by sea near the northeastern frontier with Kuwait, authorities said.

Seized were 14 Iranians who had been dropped off on shore by a boat and the driver of the boat, who was chased and captured by patrol boats as he headed out, Eastern Province coastguard spokesman Colonel Khaled al-Arqubi in a statement.

Iraq on Thursday refused to allow more than 120 Turkish buses to cross into Saudi Arabia, apparently loaded with Mecca pilgrims, because the passengers did not have visas issued by Baghdad, officials said.

"The government has decided to turn back 128 Turkish buses because they entered (Iraq) without following the procedures in force," Ali al-Moussawi, an adviser to Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki, told Agence France Presse.

Saudi Arabia will grant visas to Syrians wishing to perform the hajj pilgrimage to Mecca, set to begin next week, the Saudi ambassador to Lebanon said on Wednesday.

Riyadh, a bastion of Sunni Islam, has been one of the staunchest supporters of the revolt against Syria's President Bashar Assad. The majority of Syria's population is Sunni, while the regime is dominated by Alawites, an offshoot of Shiite Islam.

Former car salesman Manssor Arbabsiar pleaded guilty on Wednesday to conspiring with the Iranian military to kill the Saudi ambassador to the United States in a plot as lurid as any airport thriller.

Appearing at the New York federal court where he had been due to stand trial in January, the Iranian-American entered a surprise guilty plea. He faces up to 25 years in prison at his sentencing, which was set for January 23.

A Saudi court has sentenced 16 Al-Qaida suspects to between three and 25 years for murder and attacks on the kingdom's oil facilities, the official SPA news agency reported Wednesday.

The defendants, 15 Saudi nationals and a Yemeni, were convicted of "carrying out terror attacks, targeting oil (sites), and carrying out assassinations," the report said.

South Korea's Hyundai Heavy Industries said Tuesday it had won a $3.2 billion order to build a thermal power plant in Saudi Arabia.

Under the deal with Saudi's energy authorities, Hyundai will build a 2,640- megawatt power plant at a location 20 kilometers (12 miles) south of Jeddah and near the Red Sea by 2017, Hyundai said in a statement.