NEW YORK: The Foreign Minister Muhammad Javad Zarif has said that his country will take necessary political and legal follow-up measures over the recent deadly Mina stampede which claimed lives of more than 700 pilgrims including 169 Iranians.
On September 24, a stampede broke out when the pilgrims were taking part in the stoning of the devil (Satan) in Mina during annual Hajj pilgrimage rituals which according to the Saudi Health Minister Khalid al-Falih, left 769 pilgrims martyred and 934 injured.
In an interview with the IRIB in New York, the Iranian foreign minister said that Iran will adopt “necessary measures” to prevent the reoccurrence of incidents such as the Mina tragedy.
The Iranian officials said that 169 were also among the martyred pilgrims while 46 sustained injuries and 298 were still missing.
Zarif said that Iranian consular officials in Saudi Arabia were denied access to those injured in the Mina incident in contravention of international regulations.
The Iranian foreign minister said that there has been “no good cooperation” on the part of Saudi officials with Iran in identifying the injured pilgrims and those who are still unaccounted for following the Mina crush.
Meanwhile, the Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei has said that the Saudi rulers should apologize for the Mina incident instead of dodging their responsibility.
“The Muslim world has many questions in this regard and Saudi rulers, instead of shunning [their responsibility] must accept their responsibility in this grave incident by apologizing to the Muslim Ummah and bereft families,” Khamenei said while addressing a group of clerics.
“One cannot consider himself free from this sorrow [even] for a single moment and this sorrow has been weighing on the hearts of us and all Muslims during these past few days,” he added.
