Nasif al-Khatabi said that over 14 million pilgrims had arrived in Karbala by Saturday.
He also predicted that the number of Arbaeen pilgrims will increase by 50 percent from the 21 million recorded last year to more than 30 million people this year.
Arbaeen marks the end of a 40-day mourning period for the martyrdom of Imam Hussein (AS), the third Shia Imam, and his 72 companions in the Battle of Karbala in southern Iraq in 680 AD.
It brings together millions of people from across the world who undertake an 80-kilometer (49.7-mile) walk between the holy Iraqi cities of Najaf and Karbala.
The pilgrims pay tribute and renew their allegiance to Imam Hussein (AS), the all-time icon of fighting injustice, oppression and despotism, during the annual event, which is one of the largest religious congregations in the world.
Khatabi said Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani directly supervises the successful holding of the Arbaeen commemoration.
Iran’s Interior Minister Ahmad Vahidi said that nearly 3,800 million Iranians have so far passed the border with neighboring Iraq and that more than 2,300 million have returned to the country.
Speaking in the southwestern Khuzestan Province, Vahidi added that a significant number of the Iranian pilgrims will return home by Saturday.
MNA/PressTV
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