Tehran Says KSA Repels From Path of God, Quits Hajj
Iran has cancelled this year’s Hajj pilgrimage over what it called “continued sabotage” on the part of Saudi Arabia. Iran’s Hajj and Pilgrimage Organization issued an eight-paragraph statement here on Sunday to shed light on its views toward the Hajj, announcing a rare decision to quit the Hajj. The statement says Iran views the annual Hajj and the lesser pilgrimage Umrah as of spiritual value, which establish solidarity and Islamic fraternity and prevent sectarianism and tribalism, ISNA reported. According to the statement, the organization started planning this year’s Hajj right after last year’s finished on a tragic note after the disastrous stampede in Mina, Mecca, in which hundreds of Iranians were killed. The statement says the Saudi side delayed talks to sign the Hajj memorandum of understanding over political issues, as it did not accept to issue visas in Iran and banned Iranian airlines, among other things. For a second round of talks after three months, Iran’s negotiating team were given visas only 45 days late and after the new Saudi Hajj Minister took office. It was on May 25 that the Iranian team departed for the Saudi kingdom upon an official invitation by the country’s Hajj Minister who promised to resolve the problems.
Paragraph five of the statement says the issues regarding visa issuance and Iranian airlines were resolved but Iran asked for assurances to guarantee “Iranian Hajjis’ safety, dignity and respect”. These demands were not responded to due to a lack of coordination at the highest levels in Saudi Arabia and a political view toward Hajj issues. The statement goes on to blame the Saudis for failure to finalize a written agreement with the Swiss foreign ministry, Iran’s protecting power, according to international conventions and for mixing the Hajj with political issues to bar Iranians from their right to perform Hajj rituals. The Saudis’ repelling from the path of God, the statement says, deprives Iranian pilgrims from this year’s Hajj, for which the Saudis are responsible. Iran had warned the Saudis that it would quit Hajj if its demands were not met. “The Saudi government deliberately acted in a way to prevent Iranian pilgrims from … attending the Hajj this year,” Iran’s Culture Minister Ali Jannati told Iranian state television.
Riyadh has blamed Tehran for the impasse. “Saudi Arabia does not prevent anyone from performing the religious duty,” the Saudi Foreign Minister, Adel al-Jubeir, said at a news conference with his visiting British counterpart, Philip Hammond. “Iran refused to sign the memorandum and was practically demanding the right to hold demonstrations and to have other advantages … that would create chaos during the Hajj, which is not acceptable,” the Guardian quoted him as saying.
The director of Iran’s Hajj and Pilgrimage Organization, Saeed Ohadi, said the Saudi side had introduced imperious articles into the memorandum, including bans on Iran’s flag. Ohadi said 6000 of the 17000 who had enrolled to join Iranian hajj convoys have already relinquished their cases. A report published by Shargh Daily in April 2015 estimated Saudi Arabia’s average annual revenues gained from Iranian pilgrims exceed 30 thousand billion Iranian rials (about a billion US dollars). Khabaronline’s estimates stood at half the amount. At least a part of the Iranian society believes that the Hajj should start at home and the money would better be spent on resolving issues such as marriage difficulties.
The figures hit headlines after two Iranian teenagers were reportedly abused in Jeddah airport. Tensions between the two regional rivals, who are supporting opposing sides in what have been called proxy wars in Syria and Yemen and other parts of the Middle East, further escalated when last year’s Mina stoning, a part of Hajj rites, ended up in a tragic stampede in which about a thousand pilgrims, including more than 400 Iranians, were killed. Saudi Arabia has still not published a report into the disaster. Further escalation came up when the Saudi monarchy executed a prominent Shiite cleric, Sheikh Nimr al-Nimr. A number of spontaneous protestors stormed the Saudi embassy in Tehran and the Kingdom ceased diplomatic ties with Iran in response.
Iran boycotted the Hajj for three years after 402 pilgrims, mostly Iranians, died in clashes with Saudi security forces at an anti-US and anti-Israel rally in Mecca in 1987. This led to the rupture of Iran-Saudi ties. The recent cessation of diplomatic relations has been taken to other areas as the Saudis and their allies have embargoed Iranian commodities. Soccer games between the sides’ national or club teams have also suffered since the Arab side says its citizens cannot play in Iran over safety concerns.
IRGC commander Mohsen Rezaei has implied on his Instagram page that the Iranian administration has shown too much forbearance against the Saudis and should be acting more aggressively. The faceoff over the two Muslim powers has turned into a no-win war for the two and the whole region. So far every attempt for intermediation has failed.
Ghanoon Daily’s cover story today headlined “the Rogue Epic” blames the so-called spontaneous protestors who stormed the Saudi embassy for the situation in which the loser takes a winner stance and makes threats for doing its duty about a divine command.