Khamenei urges riot by Iranian pilgrims during Hajj

CAIRO - 30 July 2017: “Muslims have to protest against Israel’s violations of Al Aqsa mosque during the greater pilgrimage (Hajj),” Iran’s Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei said on Sunday.

Iranian Fares news agency reported that Khamenei urged the Iranian pilgrims to express their anger at the Israeli violations on Al Aqsa mosque while performing Hajj, demanding Saudi Arabia to secure and protect the Iranian pilgrims.

After last year’s Iranian boycott of the Hajj journey by Iranian religious figures, Saudi Arabia received their first group of Iranian pilgrims on Sunday.

Following a diplomatic riff between Iran and Saudi Arabia both vying for power and influence, Iran boycotted the Hajj last year after hundreds of people, many of them Iranians, died in a “crush and stampede” at the pilgrimage in Saudi Arabia in 2015.
In a speech to Hajj organizers on Sunday, Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said that Iranians would never forget the “catastrophic events” of 2015.

Riyadh severed diplomatic relations with the nation last year after Iranian protesters stormed the Saudi embassy in Tehran following the execution of a Shi'ite cleric in Saudi Arabia in January 2016.

Last month, Iranian officials pointed a finger at Saudi Arabia after Iran carried out attacks on the Iranian parliament in Tehran and the shrine of the founder of the Islamic Republic, Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, leaving at least 18 dead. Saudi Arabia denied any involvement.


Al Aqsa mosque’s gates are now open and welcoming all Muslims on all pray calls (Azan), following clashes with the Israeli security forces which allowed only men above 50 years of age to enter the holy mosque.