Because of the “wartime situation”, only about 30,000 Iranian pilgrims out of an expected 86,000-plus had travelled to Saudi Arabia for hajj, according to the IRNA state news agency.
The hajj has been a point of tension in the past between Riyadh and Tehran, with repeated outbreaks of violence and unrest involving Iranian visitors.
In the years following Iran’s 1979 Islamic revolution, Saudi authorities accused Iranian pilgrims of triggering stampedes and other violence, while also chanting political slogans – an act seen as taboo by the religious establishment in Mecca.
A Saudi state broadcaster this week posted a warning from the interior ministry saying any chanting or raising political or sectarian flags was strictly prohibited during the hajj.
The last major dispute erupted in 2015, when 464 Iranians were among 2,300 pilgrims killed in a stampede – one of the hajj’s biggest tragedies — prompting accusations between Riyadh and Tehran.
Relations were severed a year later after protesters attacked Saudi Arabia’s embassy in Tehran and consulate in the northwestern city of Mashhad, following Riyadh’s execution of Shiite cleric Nimr al-Nimr.
No Iranian pilgrims were allowed that year, as the two sides were unable to organise a protocol for them to attend.
The two sides only re-established relations in a surprise 2023 deal brokered by China, which saw tensions ease and embassies reopen in their respective capitals.
But the detente was upended following the US and Israeli attack on Iran in late February that set off Iran’s wide-ranging retaliation against its Gulf neighbours.
The arduous, outdoor pilgrimage will be held against the backdrop of geopolitical tensions but also under punishing sun, with temperatures forecast to top 40 degrees Celsius for much of the week.
After more than 1,300 people died in 2024, when temperatures soared above 50 degrees, Saudi authorities introduced a range of heat-mitigation measures including more shaded areas and thousands of extra health workers.
More than 50,000 healthcare staff and 3,000 ambulances are on hand to help pilgrims in need, the Saudi health ministry said.
– AFP
