Iran to Resume Sending Pilgrims to Iraq Next Week: Official
Head of Iran’s Hajj and Pilgrimage Organization Ali Reza Rashidian said the pilgrims will travel to the Arab country via air.
He noted that those who wish to return to the country via land borders can do so as permission has been given for it by Iraqi officials.
The official expressed hope that pilgrimage trips to Iraq via land borders will also start soon given the extensive vaccinations against the coronavirus in Iran.
Every year, millions of Iranians travel to Iraq to visit the holy Shia sites in Karbala, Najaf and other cities of the Arab country.
However, there have been some restrictions on former pilgrims’ entering Iraq since early last year due to the coronavirus pandemic.
Elsewhere in his remarks, Rashidian said a delegation from the Hajj and Pilgrimage Organization is going to travel to Syria next week to discuss the resumption to pilgrimage trips to Syrian holy sites.
He hoped that the two sides will reach final agreements on the issue during the delegation’s visit.
As for Umrah (minor Hajj) pilgrimage for Iranians, he said given the lifting of COVID-19 restrictions in Mecca and Medina and resumption of congregational prayers in the Grand Mosque and Prophet’s Mosque, as well as extensive coronavirus vaccination around the world, it is expected that the number of Umrah pilgrims allowed to visit Saudi Arabia is going to increase.
Rashidian predicted that the conditions will be prepared for the dispatch of Iranian pilgrims to Saudi Arabia for Umrah next year.
As usual, negotiations for participation of Iranians in next year’s Hajj will hopefully start with the Saudi side in the Iranian month of Azar (November-December), he went on to say.
