Iran Declines to Take Part in Hajj Over Dispute With Saudis

Source: New York Times

TEHRAN, Iran — Iran will not send pilgrims to Saudi Arabia this year for the annual hajj, an Iranian official said Thursday, the latest sign of tensions between the two Mideast powers after a disaster during the event last year killed at least 2,426 people.

Iran said Saudi "incompetence" caused the Sept. 24 crush and stampede in the area of Mina during the hajj, which all able-bodied Muslims are required to perform once in their life. Iran has said the disaster killed 464 of its pilgrims.

Ali Jannati, Iran's minister of culture and Islamic guidance, said negotiations between Iran and Saudi Arabia were aimed at trying to "resolve the issue" of security during the hajj, but failed to make any headway.

"We did whatever we could but it was the Saudis who sabotaged" it, Jannati said in comments carried by the state-run IRNA news agency. "Now the time is lost."

<more>

Read more: http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/2016/05/12/world/middleeast/ap-ml-iran-saudi-hajj.html?_r=0