Last year’s nuclear deal between Iran and world powers-which unleashed Iran’s economy from years of ever-tightening economic sanctions-raised Saudi concerns that a richer Iran would seek to impose itself more in the region.
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Those gained handsome titles because of holy shrines should know that their main duty is to actually respect these shrines and the pilgrims, he said.
Ayatollah Khamenei said: “The Iranian nation is standing courageously against Al Saud’s ignorance and misguidance and expresses its Quranic and rightful positions clearly and honorably and other nations and countries must also hold the Saudis accountable courageously”.
“We must understand these are not Muslims, they are children of Magi and their hostility towards Muslims is an old one”.
Commemorating Black Friday -8 September 1978- martyrs, he also said: “We hope that we can defend the blood of our Sacred Defence and the Revolution martyrs”.
Iranian authorities “politicize Hajj and convert it into an occasion to violate the teachings of Islam”, he said, according to state-run Saudi Press Agency.
Hundreds of thousands of Muslims are now arriving in the kingdom to participate in the annual hajj pilgrimage, which starts later this week.
Responding to a question by Saudi newspaper Makkah, Saudi Arabia’s Grand Mufti Sheikh Abdulaziz Al al-Sheikh said he was not surprised at the Ayatollah’s comments.
Al-Sheikh declared that the Iranians were “the enemies of Islam and the creed [of Islamic orthodoxy]”, and that they were “descendants of Zoroastrians”. The journey sees millions each year travel to Mecca, Saudi Arabia, the alleged birthplace of the Prophet Muhammad and the site of the first revelation of the Quran.
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.
Prior to the Hajj incident, tensions between the two countries had already been high as the two support opposing sides in the civil wars in Syria and Yemen.
“If the existing problems with the Saudi government were merely the issue of the hajj… maybe it would have been possible to find a way to resolve it”, Iranian President Hassan Rouhani said at a cabinet meeting.
In another part of his speech, Ayatollah Khamenei labeled supporters of the Saudi regime as complicit to the crimes of this regime in the Mina tragedy, saying: “Backed by the United States, the shameless Saudi regime is impudently standing against Muslims and spilling blood in Yemen, Syria and Iraq”.
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 Shia cleric by the Saudi authorities. Iranian officials came into negotiations with Saudi officials to pave the way for visa issuance and set the ground for Hajj travelers from Iran, but Saudi government showed no flexibility and curbed the path of negotiations.
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This year pilgrims from Iran will be unable to attend the hajj, which officially starts on September 11, after talks between the two nations on arrangements broke down in May.
