Iran’s president has called on the Muslim world to “punish” Saudi Arabia following last year’s Hajj crush and stampede. The official IRNA news agency quotes Rouhani as saying the pilgrims lost their lives because of the “lack of qualification” of Saudi authorities.
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He said countries should “punish the government of Saudi Arabia in order to have a real hajj”.
“If we do not say Mina stampede was premeditated, this incompetency and lack of prudence is a crime”, the official website of the leader quoted him as saying at a gathering of the relatives of Iranian victims of Mina stampede that took place previous year near the holy city of Mecca.
The bitter war of words between Iran and Saudi Arabia intensified Wednesday ahead of the annual hajj pilgrimage from which Iranians have been excluded for the first time in decades.
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Regional rivals Saudi Arabia and Iran have had an unusually harsh exchange in the lead up to the annual haj pilgrimage in Mecca.
Ben Hali revealed that the Quartet, which includes Egypt, Saudi Arabia, the UAE and Bahrain, have presented a report about the Iranian interference, adding: “The politicization of religious convictions will reflect on the ministerial meeting today”. Iran sent 60,000 pilgrims past year, and claimed the largest number of stampede fatalities, at 464.
The official Saudi toll of 769 people killed and 934 injured has not changed since September 26.
The comments came after Saudi Arabia’s top cleric, Grand Mufti Abdulaziz al-Sheikh, said Iranians – who are predominantly Shi’a – were “not Muslims”.
“Indeed, no resemblance between Islam of Iranians and most Muslims, and bigoted extremism that Wahhabi top cleric and Saudi terror masters preach”, Zarif tweeted.
Khamenei considered the supporters of the Saudi regime as complicit in the Mina tragedy, adding “the shameless Saudi regime backed by the United States is standing flagrantly against Muslims and continues to shed innocent bloods in Yemen, Syria, Iraq and Bahrain”.
Saudi Arabia and Iran back opposing sides in conflicts in Syria and Yemen, and severed diplomatic relations in January after a mob attacked the Saudi embassy in Tehran.
A Shi’ite source, who wished to remain anonymous, told Asharq Al-Awsat that the participation of other Shi’ite bodies in the Hajj pilgrimage is a clear rejection of the Iranian pressure exerted on the Shi’ites of Lebanon to abide by the Iranian decision.
“The events of Mina and the loss of life of Iranian pilgrims with parched lips under the scorching sun is a deeply sorrowful and unforgettable event”, Khamenei said September 7, calling the Iranians who lost their lives “martyrs”.
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He described Iranian leaders as sons of “magus”, a reference to Zoroastrianism, the dominant belief in Persia until the Muslim Arab invasion of the region that is now Iran 13 centuries ago.
