An escalating war of words is reaching fever pitch between bitter regional rivals Iran and Saudi Arabia ahead of this year’s hajj pilgrimage, from which Iranians have been excluded for the first time in decades.
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In a statement, GCC Secretary-General Abdullatif Al-Zayani described accusations by the Supreme Leader of Iran Ali Khamenei’s as “null and disgraceful”.
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. Iranians are furious after early this year they were deprived of their annual pilgrimage.
Iranians are barred from participating in this year’s Hajj pilgrimage, which is required to be done at least once by every able-bodied Muslim.
“The evil family tree of the Saudi dynasty does not have the competence to manage the holy shrines”, Khamenei said.
Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif hit out at the “bigoted extremism” of the Saudi authorities, responding to claims by Saudi Arabia’s most senior cleric, Grand Mufti Abdulaziz al-Sheikh, that Iranians were “not Muslims”.
Between Iran and Saudi Arabia, there is a history of enmity for regional dominance and promotion of mutually exclusive religious sects, Shia Islam and Wahhabi Islam.
Saudi Arabia’s top cleric is revving up the kingdom’s rhetoric against Iran, saying in comments published on Tuesday that Tehran’s leaders are “not Muslims”, in response to rancorous remarks from Iran’s supreme leader. The two countries also support opposing sides in the civil wars in Syria and Yemen.
He said the ban was in line with a decision by Iran to bar its citizens from performing Hajj this year due to differences with Saudi Arabia.
As the guardian of Islam’s most revered places in Mecca and Medina, Saudi Arabia stakes its reputation on organising Hajj. The Associated Press and Reuters put the death toll from last year’s tragedy at at least 2,000 people, whereas the official Saudi figure is 769 dead. While Iran as a sovereign country can make diplomatic errors, Saudi Arabia as the custodian of Kabaa cannot and must not reply in the like.
Iranian protesters hold portraits of prominent Shiite Muslim cleric Nimr al-Nimr as they confront riot police during a demonstration against his execution by Saudi authorities on January 3, 2016, outside the Saudi embassy in Tehran. News stories displayed here appear in our category for global and are licensed via a specific agreement between LongIsland.com and The Associated Press, the world’s oldest and largest news organization.
Despite weeks of talks on planning for this year’s event, Iranian and Saudi officials failed to find agreement.
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Mina, where pilgrims partake in the “stoning of the devil” ceremony, has always been notorious for stampedes due to the volume of visitors: incidents in 2006, 2004 and 2001 killed a total of 712 people.
