Speaking at a Cabinet session on Wednesday morning, Iran’s President Hassan Rouhani said “the Saudi government, by blocking the proud and faithful Iranian pilgrims’ path to the Beloved’s House, have added yet another wrongdoing to the list of their earlier crimes.”
“One year ago, a huge number of Muslims passed away innocently in Mina due to incompetency of Saudi officials,” he added.
President of Iran, while stating that Mina Tragedy was a bitter pill to swallow for the human kind, said “the pilgrims in Saudi Arabia bitterly passed away in from of authorities who remained observers rather than taking serious measures to rescue Muslims.”
Rouhani outlined Hajj rituals as a means to demonstrate greatness of the Islamic World noting “in addition to praying to God, the ceremony marks an opportunity to prove unity of Muslims, nevertheless, on many occasions, Saudis have trampled honor, dignity and even lives of Muslim pilgrims.”
“Saudi authorities need to realize their duty to provide pilgrims with peace and security in response to the respect given to them by holy shrines,” underlined Rouhani.
The Iranian President went on to add that “despite the terrible incident in Mina last year, Saudi Arabia has refused to apologize, compensate for the losses or at least to give promise of improved conditions in coming years.”
He denounced the fact that many of Mina martyrs have not been delivered to their respective countries though Iran took serious measures in this regard; “several agents and organizations, in line with guidelines of the Leader, managed to successfully identify and bring back home corpses of all Iranian pilgrims.”
“Legal action towards the issue might have been impeded due to closure of Iran’s embassy in Riyadh; however, Iran’s government and officials would spare no effort in preserving legal and political rights of the Iranian nation.”
Hassan Rouhani said Saudis were looking for an excuse to get rid of the legal and political pressure applied by Iran as a result of their incompetence; “unfortunately, a number of ignorant people gave them the excuse by closing the Saudi embassy in Tehran.”
“Disputes with Saudi Arabia could be settled down if they pertained only to Mina incident,” underlined Rouhani asserting “sadly, the Arab government is committing several crimes in the region by supporting terrorism in Iraq and Syria in addition to killing women and children in Yemen.”
He called for coordinated action against Saudi Arabia by regional countries as well as Islamic states in order to both hold Hajj rituals with honor and to offer peace and security to Yemeni people.
The official underlined that Iran has always supported Muslims and the oppressed all over the world expressing hope that regional countries will enjoy complete security in near future and Hajj ceremony will be held in perfect conditions.
On the occasion of the anniversary of the 17th of Shahrivar uprising that took place on 8 September 1978, President Rouhani also commemorated the memories of martyrs who brought about turning point in the history of the Islamic Revolution with their dedication and sacrifices.
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