Ceremonies are taking place across Iran to honour citizens killed in the hajj stampede, as a second plane returned the bodies of 114 pilgrims from Saudi Arabia.
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President Hassan Rouhani and other top officials attended a repatriation ceremony for the 104 pilgrims, who were among at least 464 Iranians killed in the September 24 crush.
Khamenei threatened “tough and harsh” measures against Saudi Arabia due to their alleged mistreatment of the dead Iranians.
“If it is proven that a number of [Saudi] authorities are to blame for the incident, we will never forgive [those accountable for] the blood of our loved ones”, Rouhani stated.
If his presence during the pilgrimage is confirmed, that would mean that he has entered the country in an “unknown manner”, possibly registering with a different name and description, according to the sources.
Saudi Arabia’s management of the annual pilgrimage has been a divisive issue in parts of the Muslim world for decades as the haj has grown in scale and danger. In previous years, the hajj has drawn more than 3 million pilgrims without any major incidents.
The Saudi Interior Ministry said the stampede appeared to have been caused by two waves of pilgrims meeting at an intersection.
The bodies of the remaining victims, a few of whom have not been identified yet, are kept in cold storage facilities in Mecca and Jeddah. I am sure the Indonesian government and its professional architects and businesspeople would be willing to participate in building this services and system, as long as the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia considers it necessary.
Iran has threatened to take global legal action against Saudi Arabia over the disaster, but it’s unclear what avenues are available to it.
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Iranian state media has also suggested the death toll was far higher, without providing any corroboration.
