Ayatollah Khamenei: Muslims Should Not Abandon Saudi Arabia

The leader of the Islamic Republic, in a strongly worded message on the occasion of Hajj, urged Islamic countries not to 'abandon' Saudi Arabia and to 'think seriously about managing Hajj.' Ayatollah Ali Khamenei on Tuesday, September 6, referred to Saudi officials with titles such as 'godless and heartless rulers,' 'instigators of sedition,' 'politicians ignorant of God,' and 'the accursed tree of tyrants.' According to ISNA news agency, he also called the officials of this country 'small and despicable devils' and 'blackened misled ones' who have 'blocked' the path of Iranian pilgrims to Mecca and have 'hidden their enmity and hatred towards the Iranian nation under the guise of politicizing Hajj.' The leader of the Islamic Republic accused Saudi officials of 'colluding' with Israel and the United States. He emphasized that Saudi officials are responsible for both the Mina tragedy and the crane collapse at the Grand Mosque, stating that 'the suspicion of intentionality of the incident has also been raised by some experts.' Khamenei claimed that, according to him, 'heartless and criminal Saudi agents' imprisoned the injured from the Mina incident in 'sealed containers' along with the dead instead of providing treatment and help or even delivering water, leading to their deaths. He continued in his message that Saudi officials, 'instead of apologizing and regretting and prosecuting the direct culprits of this incident, shamelessly and audaciously even refused to form an Islamic international fact-finding committee.' After the Mina incident, Iranian officials accused the Saudi government of 'incompetence' and called for the Hajj ceremony to be organized by organizations like the Organization of Islamic Cooperation. In response to Iranian officials' statements, Adel al-Jubeir, the Saudi foreign minister, accused Iran of 'political exploitation' of this incident and stated that it would be better for Iranians to wait for the results of investigations to be clarified. These verbal disputes also affected the issue of Iranian pilgrims' participation in the 2016 Hajj. Ultimately, after months of conflict between Riyadh and Tehran, the Iranian Minister of Culture and the Hajj and Pilgrimage Organization announced on Sunday, May 29, that the dispatch of Iranian pilgrims for the 2016 Hajj is canceled, accusing Saudi officials of 'obstruction.' The Saudi Ministry of Hajj and Umrah announced in a statement on Friday, May 27, that the Iranian Hajj and Pilgrimage Organization's delegation returned to Tehran after refusing to sign the agreement for organizing Iranian pilgrims. Meanwhile, the leader of the Islamic Republic stated in his message that, according to him, the 'propaganda horns' and 'media lackeys' of Saudi Arabia are 'making futile efforts' to portray the Islamic Republic as 'responsible for depriving Iranian pilgrims of this year's Hajj.' He referred to Saudi officials as 'instigators of sedition' who 'have plunged the Islamic world into internal wars and the killing of innocent people by forming and equipping wicked and Takfiri groups, staining Yemen, Iraq, Syria, Libya, and several other countries with blood.' Iranian officials have previously accused Saudi Arabia of supporting the Islamic State (ISIS). Several high-ranking officials of the Islamic Republic, including Ali Shamkhani, Secretary of the Supreme National Security Council, have also accused Saudi Arabia of attempting to create insecurity in southeastern Iran and other border areas, 'sending weapons,' and supporting 'terrorist groups' in these regions. The leader's harsh words come at a time when officials from Hassan Rouhani's government have previously spoken about efforts to reduce tensions between the two countries. One day before Khamenei, Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani, head of the Expediency Council of Iran, stated that to resolve the problems between the two countries, 'if necessary,' there is no harm in Iran 'extending a hand' to Saudi Arabia. The deterioration of relations between Iran and Saudi Arabia has increased in recent years following conflicts in Syria and Yemen, and the attack on Saudi diplomatic missions in Tehran and Mashhad last December led to the severing of diplomatic relations between Saudi Arabia and several of its allies with Iran. Regarding the attack on the Saudi embassy, the leader of the Islamic Republic had previously criticized the 'accusation' of 'Hezbollah' individuals of extremism, stating that 'just because an issue like the Saudi embassy and the British embassy arises, which is very bad and detrimental to the country and Islam, they should not use it as an excuse to attack believing youth.' After the trial of 21 defendants in the attack on the Saudi embassy, Gholamhossein Mohseni Ejei, the spokesman for the judiciary, announced that the attackers on the Saudi embassy, due to the 'anger' they felt from the actions of this country's government and the Mina incident, could be eligible for 'leniency in punishment.' In this context, Iraq has asked Saudi Arabia to recall its ambassador in Baghdad. Adel al-Jubeir: Iran smuggles explosives to Bahrain, Kuwait, and Saudi Arabia. Adel al-Jubeir: Iran does not respect international laws. Rafsanjani: Distancing between Obama's actions in the JCPOA and previous U.S. behavior may occur.