Regional rivals Saudi Arabia and Iran have had an unusually harsh exchange in the lead up to the annual haj pilgrimage in Mecca.
Advertisement
Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince Mohammed bin Nayef has responded to criticism made by Iranian Supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei over the kingdom’s ability to manage the pilgrimage after the deadly crush past year that killed hundreds of pilgrims.
And he accused Iran of endangering the security of all Hajj pilgrims. The Saudis had placed the death toll at 769. Pilgrims from Iran will be unable to attend haj, which officially starts on September 11, this year after talks between the two countries on arrangements broke down in May.
In a statement addressed to all Muslims, Khamenei said that instead of apologizing for the stampede or allowing a Muslim worldwide body to investigate what happened, Saudi authorities accused others of wrongdoing.
“The heartless and murderous Saudis locked up the injured with the dead in containers – instead of providing medical treatment and helping them or at least quenching their thirst”, Khamenei said on his website.
Lebanon’s Shia Hezbollah group has banned members from performing the Muslim Hajj pilgrimage in Saudi Arabia this year, a source close to the movement said.
After reviewing security forces assigned to protect the Hajj, Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Nayef said later Monday that the kingdom had “spared no effort to provide state-of-the-art services for the safety, comfort and security of all pilgrims”.
He published the comments ahead of this month’s annual Hajj pilgrimage to Makkah in Saudi Arabia.
This year for the first time in nearly three decades Iranians will not join the annual pilgrimage to the Muslim holy places in Saudi Arabia after talks on logistics and security fell apart in May. The kingdom has never addressed the discrepancy, nor has it released any results of an investigation they promised to conduct over the disaster.
For blocking Iranian pilgrims, Khamenei called Saudi rulers “disgraced and misguided”.
Khamenei said those who accuse Iran of preventing its citizens from going to hajj are “media minions” of Saudi Arabia and are reporting lies.
“We must understand that they are not Muslims, as they are the descendants of the Magus, and their animosity towards Muslims – especially the Sunnis – is very ancient,”Grand Mufti Abd al-Aziz Al ash-Sheikh said”. They back opposing sides in Syria’s civil war and a list of other conflicts across the Middle East. The French had hoped to mediate a financial settlement for the Iranian victims of the stampede.
Meanwhile, Saudi Arabia has been gearing up for the event, fearing a repeat of last year’s tragedy.
Advertisement
He added that the country’s police will follow up on the issue in cooperation with Foreign Ministry as well as the Hajj and Pilgrimage Organization in the future.
