The Saudi side had failed to respond to Iranian demands over “the security and respect” of its pilgrims to Makkah, of whom 60,000 took part in last year’s Haj, the organisation said.
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“Given the treatment and rhetoric by Saudi officials in two rounds of talks with the Iranian delegation and the obstacles created, in effect Hajj won’t be possible”, Iran’s official Islamic Republic News Agency cited Culture Minister Ali Jannati as saying on Sunday.
An Iranian delegation left the kingdom after a second round of talks without reaching an agreement to send Iranian pilgrims to the hajj this year, which is taking place in September.
Saudi Arabia’s Hajj ministry said it had met a number of Iran’s concerns, offering electronic visas, a deal on air transport for pilgrims and diplomatic representation by Switzerland for Iranians in Mecca.
This year’s would be the first hajj in nearly three decades to take place without the participation of pilgrims from Iran.
Among the main problems are thought to be visa issues and flights to Saudi Arabia.
“But to sign on to it would be to open up the kingdom to a level of scrutiny that it would be hard to live up to, given that Saudi Arabia would soon be hosting some ten million pilgrims from all over the world”.
“The Saudi government deliberately acted in a way to prevent Iranian pilgrims from … attending hajj this year”, he told Iranian state television.
The ministry said it offered to issue visas electronically from inside Iran according to the mechanism agreed by the Saudi Foreign Ministry.
Riyadh cut ties with Tehran in January, after demonstrators torched its embassy and a consulate in the Iranian capital following the execution of a prominent Shia cleric in Saudi Arabia.
In response, Iranian protesters stormed the Saudi embassy in Tehran, setting fire to the building.
The two countries have been locked in a dispute over the issue of Iranians performing Haj, the fifth ritual of Islam.
“Saudi Arabia wants every Muslim, including Iranians, to come to our land for the Hajj pilgrimage”, al-Jubeir said.
“This is unacceptable”, Foreign Minister Adel al-Jubeir said in a joint press briefing with his British counterpart Philip Hammond.
Last year, hundreds of pilgrims were killed during a stampede outside of Mecca.
Past year about 2,000 Iranian pilgrims were crushed to death in a stampede around Mecca, the Muslim holy city.
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The tensions have impacted the annual hajj pilgrimage, required of all able-bodied Muslims to perform once in their lives.
