Iran Will Not Take Part in Haj Pilgrimage Amid Tense Relations With Saudi

Iran and Saudi Arabia’s failure to mend relations following January’s severing of diplomatic ties has resulted in the cancellation of Iranian Muslims’ annual haj pilgrimage to the kingdom in September.

Both countries have blamed the fiasco on the other. According to an official from the Iranian Ministry of Culture, Tehran was worried about the safety of Iranian citizens after an October 2015 tragedy in which over 2,000 pilgrims, 464 of them Iranian, died in a stampede at Islam's holiest site, marking the deadliest disaster in the history of the pilgrimage.

Riyadh refuted Tehran's assertions. According to a statement carried by state-run news website Sabq, an agreement for arrangements for this year's haj was not signed due to Tehran's demands, which include the granting of visas inside Iran and transport arrangements that would evenly split the pilgrims between Saudi and Iranian airlines.

"The arrangements have not been put together and it's now too late," the statement reads.

Tehran's Islamic Guidance and Culture Minister Ali Jannati, as cited by Iran's official IRNA news agency, insisted "We did whatever we could but it was the Saudis who sabotaged it."

Minister of Haj and Umra Mohammed Bintin told state-run television station Ekhbariya that Iran was the only country that refused to sign the agreement.

Ties between the two Middle East countries were severed after Saudi diplomatic missions in Iran were ransacked in response to the execution of prominent Shi'ite cleric Nimr al-Nimr in the Sunni-led kingdom. Talks on the issue were held but the countries have not resolved the rift.