Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has accused Saudi Arabia of intentionally murdering pilgrims who were injured in the hajj stampede in 2015.
Advertisement
Ayatollah Khamenei accused the Saudi royal family of “murdering” the almost 2,300 pilgrims killed in last year’s deadly stampede at the religious event – 400 of them were Iranian.
Iran has canceled the participation of its pilgrims in this year’s Hajj rituals because of Saudi Arabia’s refusal to guarantee the safety of pilgrims.
Regional rivals Saudi Arabia and Iran have had an unusually harsh exchange in the lead up to the annual haj pilgrimage in Mecca. In the deadliest incident of its kind on record, some 2,426 people were killed in a stampede in Mina, Mecca, as they were making their hajj in September of previous year, but its cause still remains unclear.
Animosity between Sunnis – who make up an estimated 85-90% of Saudi Arabia’s population – and Shia – about 90-95% of Iran’s population – goes back to a 7th Century schism.
“Hezbollah has recently issued an internal decree to ban its leaders and members from going to the holy sites in Saudi Arabia for Hajj this year”, the source, who preferred to remain unnamed because he was unauthorized to speak to media, told Anadolu Agency on Wednesday.
The annual Hajj pilgrimage to the Saudi Arabian city of Mecca, a tradition for millions of Muslims across the globe, is slated to start Saturday, according to Al Jazeera.
Khamenei also blamed Saudi Arabia for an earlier crane collapse in Mecca that killed 111 people, and urged Muslims around the world to reconsider Saudi Arabia’s custodianship and management of Islam’s holiest sites in Mecca and Medina where the hajj is performed.
“We have to understand that they are not Muslims …”
“Magi” was a reference to the Zoroastrian religion that was prevalent in Iran before Islam, and is sometimes used as an insult against Iranians.
Rouhani also denounced the Saudi rulers for their refusal to offer an apology or compensate for the deaths they caused in the last year’s tragic incident.
Riyadh said 769 pilgrims were killed in the 2015 disaster – the highest haj death toll since a crush in 1990.
They are at odds over a number of regional issues including Syria and Yemen.
What Iranian President Hassan Rouhani Said in his attack on Saudi Government?
The two countries severed diplomatic relations in January after Saudi Arabia executed a prominent Saudi Shiite cleric and angry Iranian crowds overran Saudi diplomatic missions.
He said the Iranian authorities were not interested in whether their own pilgrims attended Hajj or not.
Advertisement
Grand Mufti Sheikh Abdulaziz Al-Asheikh said that Iranian leaders saw Sunni Muslims as their enemy.
