Iranians Performed Dignified Hajj
Speaking to reporters at the Imam Khomeini International Airport upon returning from Hajj on Saturday, the cleric said the motto of this year’s pilgrimage, namely "Hajj, Spirituality, National Power and Islamic Unity” was materialized during the pilgrimage.
He expressed the hope that with the pilgrimage having been held well, there will be an ease in the tensions in the political ties between Iran and Saudi Arabia.
Hojat-ol-Islam Qazi-Askar further noted that some 23,000 Iranian pilgrims have remained in the holy cities and the rest, accounting for 60 percent of the total number of Iranian pilgrims, have returned to the country so far.
As for plans to send Iranian pilgrims to Umrah (minor) Hajj, he said more talks with Saudi officials are needed to reach a viable agreement on Umrah.
More than 86,000 Iranian pilgrims traveled to Saudi Arabia for Hajj this year.
In 2016, more than 1.8 million pilgrims attended Hajj, but Iranians stayed at home after tensions between Riyadh and Tehran boiled over following a deadly crush of people during the 2015 pilgrimage.
On September 2, 2015, thousands of people lost their lives in the deadly crush after Saudi authorities blocked a road in Mina during a ritual, forcing large crowds of pilgrims to collide.
The crush was the deadliest incident in the history of the pilgrimage. According to an Associated Press count based on official statements from the 36 countries that lost citizens in the disaster, more than 2,400 pilgrims were killed in the incident.
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