The 6-nation Gulf Cooperation Council, of which Saudi Arabia is the most powerful member, accused Iran of “a desperate attempt to politicize” the hajj and said Khamenei’s remarks were offensive.
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In his message, the Ansarullah leader once again slammed Saudi Arabia’s air campaign against Yemen, saying the regime in Riyadh insists on continuing the aggression in order to appease the United States and Israel.
The haj ministry has said it had prepared a strict timetable for pilgrims from various countries to follow when leaving and returning to their accommodation.
Iranian authorities – who assert that more than 4,500 people died during last year’s disaster, according to The New York Times – announced in May that Saudi Arabia had made insufficient progress in addressing safety concerns.
Saudi pilgrim Ibrahim Ayed, 40, who took part in the hajj and the stoning ritual for the first time in a decade, agreed.
Numerous pilgrims taking part in this year’s hajj climbed a hill called Jabal al-Rahma, or mountain of mercy, in the plain of Arafat to spend time there in supplication.
Hajj is one of the five Pillars of Islam – duties all practising Muslims should perform during their lives – which means Muslims from all over the world travel to Mecca, Saudi Arabia, to make the journey.
In stifling heat they chanted a traditional Hajj incantation, “God, here I am”, spending the most important day of the annual Hajj in prayer and reading from the Koran.
The Mount of Arafat is where Muslims believe Prophet Muhammed gave his last sermon and where he was accompanied by his followers to conduct his final Hajj.
Women forgo makeup and perfume and wear loose-fitting clothing and a head covering, while men dress in seamless, white terry cloth garments.
In stifling heat, trucks loaded with bottled water were stationed throughout, and pilgrims doused themselves.
Last year, a tragic incident took place when two large masses of pilgrims converged at a crossroads during the symbolic ceremony of the stoning of Satan in Jamarat.
Among these is the distribution of digital bracelets to the pilgrims to help identify and guide them in the congestion.
On Sunday, helicopters monitored the crowd flow from the skies, while on the ground, police directed pedestrian movement.
In a statement on Monday, Iran’s interests section in Cairo denied the stories about Ayatollah Khamenei’s fatwa on the performance of Hajj rituals by one million Iranians in Iraq’s holy Shiite sites, including the shrine of the third Shiite imam, Imam Hussein (AS), in the city of Karbala. The series said 300 Iranian pilgrims caused last year’s crush by taking a wrong turn in the direction opposite where they had been assigned to move.
Pilgrims have told AFP they feel safe and have noticed organisational improvements.
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The verbal sparring, ahead of the Hajj which this year starts on Saturday, following months of tension between Sunni-dominated Saudi Arabia and its Shia regional rival Iran since the stampede.
