Saudi authorities normally seek to avoid public discussion of whether Shias are Muslims, but implicitly recognise them as such by welcoming them to the haj, and by accepting Iranian visits to the Saudi-based Organisation of Islamic Cooperation.
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“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”.
The fallout was so severe that according to Iranian hajj officials, the Saudis placed serious obstacles in front of Iranian pilgrims this year, causing them to miss the hajj for the first time in almost three decades.
“Unfortunately, this government by committing crimes in the region and supporting terrorism in fact shed the blood of Muslims in Iraq, Syria and Yemen”, he added.
Saudi Arabia severed official ties with Iran early this year after its diplomatic missions in the Iranian cities of Tehran and Mashhad were attacked by protesters following the execution of a prominent Shiite cleric by the Saudi authorities.
Supporters of the Saudi rulers are trying to spread such an “outright lie” in a propaganda campaign, while “most of the 7,000 Mina martyrs, including a large number of Iranian martyrs, are Sunnis”, the Leader revealed.
He reserved some of his harshest words for Riyadh’s response to last year’s Hajj stampede which killed 2,297 pilgrims, according to a toll compiled from foreign officials.
Saudi Arabia and Iran follow different branches of Islam – Sunni and Shia, respectively – and hold deeply opposing views on Middle Eastern politics.
The Gulf Co-operation Council for the Arab States (GCC), has expressed condemnation and denunciation of the statement issued on Tuesday by the Supreme Leader of Iran, Ali Khamenei, saying that the statement included false and disgraceful accusations against Saudi Arabia.
Supreme Leader of the Islamic Revolution in Iran, Imam Sayyed Ali Khamenei said the “accursed tree” of Saudi Arabia rulers, Al Saud, did not deserve to manage holy sites in the Gulf Kingdom.
“We must understand (that) they are not Muslims and their hostility towards Muslims is old, especially with the people of Sunna”, Grand Mufti Abdul aziz al-Sheikh told Makkah daily. Iran in May announced that it wouldn’t participate in this year’s hajj, saying Riyadh was to blame for the collapse of negotiations over travel arrangements for Iranian pilgrims and lack of compensation for relatives of citizens killed in last year’s stampede. Many Pakistani families were destroyed in the 2015 stampede as well as over a hundred martyred pilgrims returned home in coffins.
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“Particularly when it comes to the pilgrimage and religious discourse, then it has quite damaging effects on sectarian relations around the world”. Saudi’s grand mufti countered the next day by asserting that Iranians are “not Muslims”.
