TEHRAN, AFP, September 5, 2016 – Iran’s supreme leader Khamenei issued an angry rebuke to “blasphemous” regional rival Saudi Arabia on Monday, calling on the Muslim world to question its management of Islam’s holiest sites.
“Because of Saudi rulers’ oppressive behavior towards God’s guests, the world of Islam must fundamentally reconsider the management of the two holy places and the issue of Hajj,” Khamenei said in a statement published on his website, referring to Makkah and Madina.
He published the comments ahead of this month’s annual Hajj pilgrimage to Makkah in Saudi Arabia. Some 60,000 Iranians took part last year, but have been effectively barred from this year’s event after negotiations between the two countries fell apart.
Khamenei accused Saudi Arabia’s ruling family, who are the custodians of Islam’s holiest sites, of politicizing the pilgrimage, and turning themselves into “small and puny Satans who tremble for fear of jeopardizing the interests of the Great Satan (the United States).”
“Saudi rulers… who have blocked the proud and faithful Iranian pilgrims’ path to the Beloved’s House, are disgraced and misguided people who think their survival on the throne of oppression is dependent on defending the arrogant powers of the world, on alliances with Zionism and the US and on fulfilling their demands,” he wrote.