More than 1000 pilgrims, including 89 Iranian nationals, were killed and hundreds of others injured in a stampede during Hajj pilgrimage rituals outside the holy city of Mecca on Thursday.
Following the incident, the Saudi envoy was summoned to the Iranian foreign ministry and received Tehran’s official protest at lack of attention leading to the deadly stampede.
Earlier in the day, Iranian Deputy Foreign Minister for Arab and African Affairs Hossein Amir Abdollahian criticized Saudi authorities for their failure to prevent the incident.
“Saudi Arabia’s officials are to blame for the incident,” Amir Abdollahian said Thursday, stressing that their lack of prudence in providing security for pilgrims is “non-negligible”.
The pilgrims were killed in a crush at Mina, outside the holy city, where some two million Muslims are performing the annual Hajj pilgrimage.
The accident came nearly two weeks after tens of Hajj pilgrims were killed in another tragic incident in Mecca.
On September 11, a massive construction crane crashed into Mecca’s Grand Mosque in stormy weather, killing at least 107 people and injuring 201 others.
Saudi authorities have been blasted for their failure to ensure the safety of hundreds of thousands of pilgrims who converge on Mecca for Hajj every year.