Riyadh: Tehran must stop ‘political games’

JEDDAH: Saudi Arabia has rejected reports that it has blocked Iranians from performing Haj, and accused Tehran of playing political games.
In a statement on Thursday, the Ministry of Haj and Umrah said the Iranian Haj delegation had earlier refused to sign a standard agreement with Saudi Arabia that is mandatory for all nations sending pilgrims. The delegation had left the country.
The ministry said the Iranians had demanded several concessions including Iran and Saudi carriers must share equally in transporting pilgrims, and to have Saudi Haj visas issued in Iran. 
The ministry said it would only issue visas for Iranian pilgrims through its embassy in Dubai. The Kingdom cut diplomatic relations with Iran when Tehran failed to protect the Saudi Embassy in Tehran from mobs which attacked them in objection to Riyadh executing a convicted Saudi hate preacher.
It said 78 countries are required to send Haj delegations to finalize arrangements for their pilgrims. The president of the Iranian Haj delegation, Said Oouhdi, was invited to have these discussions.
“Iran is the only country that refused to sign the agreement on Haj. It insisted on a number of unacceptable demands,” Minister of Haj and Umrah Mohammed Bentin told the Ekhbariya channel.
Earlier, news agencies quoted an Iranian official as announcing that Iran will ban its citizens from going to Saudi Arabia this year to perform the pilgrimage. According to AP, Ali Jannati, Iran’s minister of cultural and Islamic guidance, blamed Saudi Arabia for failing to “resolve the issue of security” in the months-long discussions.
Jannati said in comments carried by AP: “They (the Saudis) did not accept our proposals concerning the issuing of visas or security and transport of the Iranian pilgrims.”
Saudi officials, for their part, have called upon Iran to stop “politicizing” Haj accidents.
The Iranian decision raises questions as Haj is a religious duty and one of the “five pillars” of Islam. Each able-bodied Muslim is required to perform this pilgrimage at least once in their life, and at no point did Riyadh ever signal that it won’t be welcoming Iranian pilgrims.
Noted scholar and former Saudi diplomat Ali Al-Ghamdi said: “Muslims are a united Ummah and they have nothing to do with any controversy when it comes to undertaking the spiritual journey of lifetime.” Al-Ghamdi blamed Iran of playing politics over “a spiritual issue.”
This, he said, Iran does to defame Saudi Arabia, “but it will not succeed, because truth always prevails and the people all over the world will see through the Iranian game.”
Prof. Khayat Jameel, former acting secretary-general of the World Islamic Commission on Education, an affiliate of Muslim World League, said: “Iran’s claim is wrong, because the government of Saudi Arabia never in history used such a spiritual occasion for petty politics.”
He added that Iran is launching a propaganda campaign against Saudi Arabia, which is “disappointing and disgusting.”
Atiqurrahman, a graduate of Madinah University, condemned the Iranian campaign to defame Saudi Arabia. “I think Tehran should refrain from mixing dirty politics with people’s faith.”