Iran-Saudi spat heats up ahead of Haj

A bitter war of words between Iran and Saudi Arabia intensified on Wednesday ahead of the annual Haj pilgrimage from which Iranians have been excluded for the first time in decades.

Iran’s supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei blasted the “incompetence” of the Saudi royal family as he met with the families of the victims of a deadly stampede during last year’s Haj.

“This incident proves once again that this cursed, evil family does not deserve to be in charge and manage the holy sites,” he said.

Relations between Iran and Saudi Arabia were already at rock bottom before the regional rivals started trading caustic remarks ahead of Haj, due to start on Saturday.

Iranians have been blocked from the event after talks on safety and logistics fell apart in May.

“If the existing problems with the Saudi government were merely the issue of the Haj... Maybe it would have been possible to find a way to resolve it,” Iranian President Hassan Rouhani said.

“Unfortunately, this government by committing crimes in the region and supporting terrorism in fact shed the blood of Muslims in Iraq, Syria and Yemen,” he added.

The week began with a furious rebuke from Mr Khamenei, published on his website, in which he accused the Saudi royals of “murder” over the deaths of nearly 2,300 pilgrims, including hundreds of Iranians, in last year’s stampede.

Saudi Arabia claims the death toll was only 769 — despite data from more than 30 countries suggesting it was far higher — and has refused to release the details of its investigatio.

But the head of the six-nation Gulf council hit back, calling Mr Khamenei’s remarks “inappropriate and offensive... and a desperate attempt to politicise” the Haj.

Saudi Arabia’s most senior cleric, Grand Mufti Abdulaziz al-Sheikh, also waded into the dispute, telling the Makkah daily on Tuesday: “We must understand these are not Muslims, they are children of Magi (a reference to Zoroastrianism that was prevalent in Iran before Islam, and is sometimes used as an insult against Iranians) and their hostility towards Muslims is an old one.”