‘The Muslim world, including governments and Muslim countries must know Saudi leaders and really understand the reality of their sacrilegious, infidel, dependent and materialistic nature. Saudi Arabia has failed to utilize lessons from previous disasters to reduce or eliminate future consequences.
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Following their actions, Iran’s supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei Saudi Arabia they will receive the “divine punishment”.
And he accused Iran of endangering the security of all Hajj pilgrims.
While significantly more diplomatic than the Grand Mufti, Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince Mohammed bin Nayef has also weighed in on Iran’s insults, noting it is lamentable that Iran has banned its citizens from participating in the hajj this year.
Muslim pilgrims circling the cube-like Kaaba inside the Sacred or Grand Mosque in Mecca during the 2014 hajj.
Iranians have been barred from the Hajj this year – which starts on Saturday – after talks on safety and logistical issues broke down in May.
Saudi social media was soon set ablaze by the hashtag #Military_Parade_By_Hajj_Security_Forces_1437, using the Islamic calendar’s equivalent of the year 2016.
Iran had the highest death toll of any country, with 464 Iranian pilgrims killed.
Khamenei met with the families of the Hajj pilgrimage stampede victims of 2015 and said: “The Saudis’ failure and incompetence in this incident proves once again that this cursed, evil family does not deserve to be in charge and manage the holy sites”, he was quoted as saying by AFP.
The Crown Prince said that Haj is a sacred duty and the place is an honored place.
“Islamic Ummah [Arabic word for nation] was bereaved in Mina stampede and about 7,000 people were killed, but no country other than Iran reacted and they remained silent”, he noted. The incident happened in Mina at the intersection of two streets leading up to Jamaraat Bridge.
The week began with a furious rebuke from Khamenei, published on his website, in which he accused the Saudi royals of “murder” over the deaths of almost 2,300 pilgrims, including hundreds of Iranians, in last year’s stampede.
In a statement Ayatollah Khamenei said: “Saudi rulers, who have obstructed the path of Allah and have blocked the proud and faithful Iranian pilgrims’ path to the Beloved’s House, are disgraced and misguided people”.
Not only have the Saudi rulers refused to express regret over the death of thousands of pilgrims, but they are also directly and indirectly sacrificing the Muslim nations in the region to their deceptive political ploys, Qassemi said.
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Riyadh then cut diplomatic and commercial ties with Iran, and several of the kingdom’s Sunni allies downgraded or severed their relations with Tehran.
