Iran’s Interior Minister Abdolreza Rahmani Fazli made the remarks in a press conference in Tehran on Monday, adding “according to the latest reports, the death toll of the Iranian pilgrims has reached 169, with 295 missing and 45 injured a number of whom will be released from hospital today.”
Rahmani Fazli noted that President Rouhani who is currently in New York for the 70th session of UN General Assembly has discussed the Mina tragedy in all of his meetings with heads of various countries.
“We have announced to Saudi Arabia that we will take every practical action to return all Iranian pilgrims, the missing, the deceased and the wounded to Iran and Saudi Arabia has a responsibility to fully cooperate with us,” said the Iranian minister, calling on the Riyadh regime to not make the issue any more complicated than it already is.
Noting that there are over 60,000 Iranian pilgrims currently in Saudi Arabia, Rahmani Fazli said, “just as the Iranian Leader Ayat. Khamenei and President Rouhani have stressed, Saudis must assume the responsibility for this incident and in addition to making a formal apology, they must confront those who were to blame in mismanaging the Hajj rituals. A number of officials and ministers have been dismissed from their positions but that is not enough.”
Rahmani Fazli also added that Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif is following up on the Mina incident in New York and it has been decided that minister of Health and head of Iranian Red Crescent Society will be accompanying a team to Saudi Arabia to probe into the situation of the deceased and the wounded.
The Iranian senior official rejected claims that the Israeli spy agency Mossad had played a part in Mina incident and abducted some Iranian diplomats and top army commanders, saying “such claims going viral in the cyberspace are merely personal opinions with the aim to cause anxiety and concern in the society.”
Rahmani Fazli then assured that the officials of the Islamic Republic will inform the public of every information they obtain, concealed or otherwise, regarding the injured.
The tragic incident occurred in Mina, near Mecca, at 9 am local time (0600 GMT) on Thursday after two large masses of pilgrims fused together. Iran’s Hajj and Pilgrimage Organization says the tragic incident claimed the lives of more than 1,300 people, including 169 Iranians. Saudi officials, however, put the death toll at 717.
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