The president said his administration will pursue the country’s rights regarding the fatal crush of Hajj pilgrims in Saudi Arabia through legal and political channels. Saudi authorities at the time denied the high death toll, claiming it was closer to 700 people.
Advertisement
Why did Hassan Rouhani Burst out with anger?
Relations between Iran and Saudi Arabia were already at rock bottom before the regional rivals started trading barbs this week ahead of the start of the annual Hajj pilgrimage on Saturday.
After two failed attempts to resolve the safety issue, Iran banned its pilgrims from attending this year’s hajj for the first time in nearly 30 years.
Close to 1.5 million Muslims from around the world had descended yesterday on Saudi Arabia for the annual hajj pilgrimage, undeterred by last year’s stampede disaster but with Iranians absent.
Last year, hundreds of pilgrims were killed in a deadly Hajj stampede near Mecca.
Though more and more Muslims flood the country with religious fervor for the Hajj and preparations for the event, including precautions for safety, get more elaborate every year; accidents occur every year.
Director of Zamzam Water Division at the Grand Mosque Eng. Osama Al-Hujaili said, in a statement aired by Saudi Press Agency (SPA), that this initiative comes as part of the program of “Zamzam water bottle for each pilgrim”.
Saudi Arabia says Iranian pilgrims are still welcome if they travel from other countries.
Al al-Sheikh’s remarks drew an acerbic retort from Iran’s Foreign Minister, Mohammad Javad Zarif, who said they were evidence of bigotry among Saudi leaders.
The ideological enemies exchanged accusations a year ago over a stampede that claimed the lives of over 780 pilgrims, 400 of which were Iranians.
Saudi Arabia is said to have introduced electronic identification bracelets for all pilgrims to Mecca.
The dispute escalated after Tehran demanded that Iranian pilgrims be allowed to perform certain practices – forbidden by the Saudi authorities – during the Hajj.
“The world of Islam, including Muslim governments and peoples, must familiarise themselves with the Saudi rulers and correctly understand their blasphemous, faithless, dependent and materialistic nature”, the statement went on, asserting that the kingdom’s rulers were unfit to be the custodians of Islam’s holiest sites.
Conservative media websites immediately attacked Rafsanjani for presenting these comments just before the hajj pilgrimage and only one year after the Mina stampede.
Advertisement
In return, Saudi Sheikh Abdel Aziz al-Cheikh stated that Iranians are not Muslims and their cultures are not anything alike. Rafsanjani recounted how he and former Saudi King Abdullah bin Abdulaziz were able to begin negotiations and address issues after Iran-Saudi tensions had caused Iranians to miss hajj for three years in the late 1980s.
