Hujjat al-Islam wal Muslimeen Sayyid Mahdi Alizadeh Moosawi, in a news conference, pointing to the absence of the Iranian pilgrims from this year’s Hajj, said, ‘Unfortunately, the Saudis did not give permission for Iranian pilgrims to perform the compulsory visit to the House of Allah. They have become the referent for Holy verse of those who prevent from the path of Allah. A painful and severe punishment is awaiting them.’
‘In the beginning it was thought that maybe Saudi Arabia, after the martyrdom of more than 460 Iranian pilgrims last year, would be sympathetic to the loved ones of the martyrs and be more affectionate to the Iranian pilgrims; however, no ft only did this not happen but we witnessed a very aggressive stance from the Saudis.’
HI Sayyid Moosawi added, ‘Saudi Arabia extensively uses the Hajj as a political lever and are aiming to politicize it in an unworthy form.’
‘This year, the oppressed people of Yemen, Syria, Bahrain and the Iranian pilgrims, because of the extreme policies and takfiri nature of the Saudi regime, do not have the blessings of going to Hajj. We hope, that with the destruction of the Saudi regime, a day will come when the Hajj can be performed accurately on its proper days.’
HI Sayyid Alizadeh Moosawi, while pointing to the presence of teams from the Islamic Republic in Saudi Arabia to ensure the that the Hajj goes ahead, said, ‘The Saudi regime was not prepared to accept the security assurances for the Iranian pilgrims. They also mentioned other issues that Iran could not accept. They were also afraid lest the cries of the oppressed Hajj martyrs of the previous year reach the ears of the pilgrims from 57 Islamic countries and even non –Islamic countries, via the presence of the Iranian pilgrims. They spared no effort in preventing the Iranian pilgrims from entering Makkah.
HI Sayyid Moosawi indicated that over 800 people who were present at Mina and who witnessed this horrific incident, were directly interviewed. He added, ’By the endeavors of the representative of the Leader in the Hajj and Umrah Affairs section, a complete and comprehensive collection was gathered on this subject; however, because of the extreme censorship on the part of the Saudi regime and their withholding of information, as even till now they have not released the figures of the amount of people killed at Mina.
