Riyadh Has Yet to Issue Visas for Iranian Hajj Delegation
Ohadi told IQNA that the delegation had been scheduled to meet with Saudi Arabia’s Hajj minister on Wednesday, March 9.
He said preparations for sending Iranian pilgrims to this year’s Hajj, will be on agenda in the meeting.
Accommodation, transportation and safety of Iranian Hajjis will be discussed in the upcoming session, Ohadi said, adding that the Saudi minister is also expected to present his final assessment of last year’s Mina disaster.
Ohadi also referred to Riyadh’s decision to announce the Swiss embassy in Tehran as the one that will handle Saudi Arabia’s consular affairs in Iran, saying that the Swiss embassy will not be capable of issuing visas for 64,000 Iranian pilgrims.
He expressed hope that a clear picture can be drawn about this year’s Hajj with the planned meeting.
The president in April last year ordered the suspension of the Umrah Hajj pilgrimage following the sexual abuse of two Iranian teenagers by Saudi officers at the Jeddah airport.
There have been doubts about participation of Iranian Hajjis in the 2016 Hajj pilgrimage following the Mina tragedy and especially after the severance of ties between Tehran and Riyadh in recent months.
In September 2015, at least 7,500 pilgrims, including over 460 Iranians, were killed in a crush in Mina, near Mecca when performing Hajj rites.
Then, earlier this year, tensions between Iran and Saudi Arabia ran high in January following Riyadh’s execution of prominent Shia cleric Sheikh Nimr al-Nimr, and a subsequent attack by outraged Iranian protesters on the Saudi embassy in Tehran, which resulted in the Arab country’s decision to sever its ties with the Islamic Republic.
