Gulf Arab states earlier accused Iran of trying to politicize the hajj after its supreme leader lashed out at Saudi authorities over their management of the annual pilgrimage.
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The kingdom’s Crown Prince Mohammed bin Nayef reiterated those concerns on Monday, saying Iran wanted to “politicise hajj and convert it into an occasion to violate the teachings of Islam, through shouting slogans and disturbing the security of pilgrims”.
Iranian President Hassan Rouhani called on the Muslim world to unite and “punish” the Saudi government for its actions in the region.
The head of the six-nation Gulf Cooperation Council said that Ayatollah Ali Khamenei’s remarks accusing Riyadh of “murder” over the deaths of almost 2,300 pilgrims at last year’s hajj were “inappropriate and offensive”.
Saudi Arabia’s top Wahhabi cleric has claimed that Iran’s leaders are not Muslims and have a deep animosity towards Sunnis. The decision from the Saudi government came after a fallout of talks between the two countries regarding safety and logistical issues in May.
“Saudi Arabia is a “cursed tree”; its rulers involved the Islamic world in civil wars that resulted in the death of innocents by establishing takfiri [Islamist militant] groups”, the statement read.”Instead of providing an official excuse for the incident and holding accountable any officials who were responsible, Saudi officials simply evaded the matter, even refusing to formulate a fact-finding committee”. This hasn’t been the only incident; hundreds of other pilgrims have been killed during the same ceremony in years past but 2015’s disaster was the deadliest at Mina since 1990 when 1,426 people died.
At least 2,297 pilgrims were killed in the crush, according to figures from foreign officials in more than 30 countries.
The official Saudi toll of 769 people killed and 934 injured has not changed since September 26.
In January, tensions between longtime rivals Iran and Saudi Arabia soared after the kingdom executed a prominent Saudi Shiite cleric.
Saudi authorities normally seek to avoid public discussion of whether Shi’ites are Muslims, but implicitly recognize them as such by welcoming them to the haj, and by accepting Iranian visits to the Saudi-based Organisation of Islamic Cooperation.
Khamenei described the Saudi royal family as “small and puny Satans who tremble for fear of jeopardising the interests of the Great Satan (the United States)”.
A coalition of Gulf nations on Wednesday also criticized Khamenei.
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“Indeed; no resemblance between Islam of Iranians & most Muslims & bigoted extremism that Wahhabi top cleric & Saudi terror masters preach”, Zarif posted on his Twitter account on Tuesday.
