TEHRAN: Iranians will not take part in this year’s Makkah pilgrimage because of “obstacles” raised by Saudi Arabia, custodian of Islam’s holiest sites, Iran’s Culture Minister Ali Jannati said Sunday.
Hajj row escalates as Iran and Saudi Arabia miss new deal
“After two series of negotiations without any results because of obstacles raised by the Saudis, Iranian pilgrims will unfortunately not be able to take part in the hajj” pilgrimage, starting in June, he said, quoted by state television.
An Iranian delegation had left Saudi Arabia without an agreement for its citizens to attend the Muslim Hajj pilgrimage this year, Saudi media have reported, a second failure by the rival Middle East powers to strike a deal.
Iran ends hajj talks in Saudi without final deal
Saudi Arabia blamed Iran for the impasse. “We witnessed a lack of seriousness by the Iranian side in dealing with the issue. It is yet another attempt by them to politicize the Hajj,” Abdulmohsen Alyas, an under-secretary at Riyadh’s Information Ministry, told Reuters.
After an earlier attempt to agree on Hajj terms failed this month, Iran’s leadership blamed Saudi Arabia for the delay, saying it was “very concerned” for the safety of Iranian pilgrims after last year’s disaster.
Makkah metro project delayed by financial restructuring: CEO
Relations between the two countries plummeted after hundreds of Iranians died in a crush during last year’s Hajj and after Riyadh broke diplomatic ties when its Tehran embassy was stormed in January over the Saudi execution of a Shia cleric.
The post Iran not to send Makkah pilgrims, blames Saudi appeared first on The Express Tribune.