Saudi Arabia and Iran have failed for the second time to agree on arrangements for Iranian citizens to attend this year’s Hajj pilgrimage, with both sides insisting the other is to blame for the standstill.
Difficulties in making arrangement have arisen following tragedy at least year’s pilgrimage during which at least 700 pilgrims were killed, including more than 400 Iranians. Although the official death toll was 769, the real number of people killed is thought to have been over two thousand.
Iran is the only country not to have signed an agreement, and Iranian officials blamed Saudi Arabia for the delay, complaining that not enough safety measures had been put in place to ensure the safety of Iranian citizens after last year’s tragedy.
Saudi Arabia has not published a report into the deaths that occurred in Mecca eight months ago, and King Salman was quoted in Saudi state media praising authorities for a “successful” Hajj.
Tensions between the Sunni Muslim kingdom of Saudi Arabia and the predominantly Shi’ite Muslim Iranian republic have heightened in the past months, following the execution of prominent Shi’ite Muslim cleric Sheikh Nimr al-Nimr along with 46 other Shia Muslims convicted of terror related offences in Saudi Arabia.
Saudi officials have speculated that Iran’s refusal to agree on arrangements for Hajj has a political motive, after Iranian delegates walked out on talks early on Friday without coming to an agreement.
One official said: “We witnessed a lack of seriousness by the Iranian side in dealing with the issue. It is yet another attempt by them to politicise Hajj.”
If no agreement is made, Iranian Muslims will not be able to make the pilgrimage to Mecca, Islam’s holiest city, in September.
Additional reporting by Reuters.
