Iran’s Hajj Official Travels to Saudi Arabia
Heading a delegation, Ali Reza Rashidian left Tehran for the kingdom on Saturday, the organization’s public relations office said.
His trip comes at the invitation of Saudi Arabia’s Hajj and Umrah Minister, it added.
Speaking at the airport, he hoped for good negotiations with the Saudi side to ensure a dignified, secure and safe Hajj for Iranian pilgrims.
He added that given the large number of Iranians who are in line for making the pilgrimage, Iran will push for adding the country’s Hajj quota for next year.
Iran sent 86,000 pilgrims to Saudi Arabia for Hajj this year. In 2018 and 2017 some 85,000 Iranians made the pilgrimage.
A year earlier, 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 24, 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.
Saudi Arabia claims nearly 770 people were killed, but officials at Iran’s Hajj and Pilgrimage Organization say about 4,700 people, including over 460 Iranian pilgrims, lost their lives.
https://iqna.ir/fa/news/3862229
