Iran’s Askar thanks Saudi Arabia for Hajj 2017 success

CAIRO – 5 September 2017: Ali Qadi Askar, the representative of Iranian leader Ali Khamenei on hajj and pilgrimage affairs, thanked Saudi Arabia Tuesday, for the success of the 2017 hajj, regarding it as a good opportunity to adjust current situation with KSA.

“It’s time to compromise with Saudi Arabia,” Askar said. He considered the existence of ten officials from Iran’s Foreign Ministry in KSA for fulfilling the Iranian consulate affairs, re-opening Iran hajj affairs office in Medina, in addition to executing banking operations between the two countries and establishing and spreading hospitals for Iranian people are all evidence of the success of 2017 hajj and the proper procedures performed by Saudi authorities, Iran Students’ News Agency reported.


More than 80,000 Iranian pilgrims reached Mecca this year to perform hajj, The Washington Post reported.

Conflicts between Iran and Saudi Arabia were fueled over a human crush near Mecca in 2015 that killed nearly 800 pilgrims, according to Riyadh, although counts by countries of repatriated bodies showed over 2,000 people may have died, more than 400 of them Iranians.