PHOTO: Supreme Leader addresses clerics on Sunday


For the fourth day in a row, Iran’s leaders are denouncing Saudi Arabia for Thursday’s stampede during the Mecca pilgrimage that killed at least 763 people.

The Supreme Leader told clerics on Sunday, “Saudi rulers, instead of shunning [their obligations], must accept their responsibility in this grave incident by apologizing to the Muslim Ummah [community] and bereft families.”

In New York, President Rouhani used his speech on Saturday to a UN summit on global development to demand an investigation into “the causes of this incident and other similar incidents in this year’s hajj”.

Rouhani also said after a meeting with UN Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon, Unfortunately, the Saudi government does not cooperate enough in addressing the fate of the missing and transferring the bodies of those killed as well as the injured ones, and it is imperative that [Ban] remind the Riyadh government of its legal and human obligations.”

Officials in Tehran say at least 144 Iranians were among the dead from the stampede, which occurred as two groups converged in narrow streets for one of the last rites of the hajj. Another 82 were injured and 323 are missing.

Saudi Arabia’s Foreign Minister Adel al-Jubeir, speaking before a meeting with US Secretary of State John Kerry on Saturday, called on Iran to pull back from its attacks:

This is not a situation with which to play politics. I would hope that the Iranian leaders would be more sensible and more thoughtful with regards to those who perished in this tragedy and wait until we see the results of the investigation.

The disaster has overshadowed the religious celebrations of Eid al-Adha in Iran. Politicians and clerics — from the Supreme Leader to the Tehran Friday Prayer — have proclaimed Saudi ineptitude and mismanagement. Iranian media have asserted that a convoy of Saudi Arabia’s Deputy Crown Prince caused the crush and subsequent stampede on Thursday. Some prominent Iranian officials have called for Saudi Arabia to be stripped of oversight for the hajj, with the Organization for Islamic Cooperation taking over.

The Supreme Leader said on Sunday, “The Muslim world has many questions and the death of more than 1,000 people in this incident is no small matter. Therefore, the world of Islam should find a solution for this problem.”

The turmoil over the stampede, following a crane collapse on Mecca’s Grand Mosque that killed 111 people two weeks ago, have damaged the efforts of the Rouhani Government for engagement with Saudi Arabia over regional crises, including the Syrian civil war, Saudi-led military intervention in Yemen, and tension in Bahrain.

See Iran Daily, Sept 26: Tehran Maintains Pressure on Saudi Arabia Over Mecca Disaster

The Secretary of the National Security Council, Ali Shamkhani, again linked the Mecca tragedy to Saudi intervention in Yemen, telling reporters on Sunday:

This incident happened due to the inefficiency and change of the Saudi government’s priorities instead of handling the issues related to the Hajj pilgrims. The Saudi government had on its agenda the aggression against Yemen instead of handling the issues related to the Hajj pilgrims and this has caused incidents like Mina.

Addressing Parliament today, Speaker Ali Larijani said Saudi officials’ negligence and mismanagement led to the tragedy. He expressed regret that Saudi Arabia refused to cooperate with Iranian teams seeking to identify those who are still missing: “This is not Islamic hospitality but enmity.”

The Saudi government must know that Muslim nations, particularly Iranians, will never forget such “inappropriate behavior”, Larijani asserted.