Iranian Muslims to miss haj pilgrimage amid rift with Saudi

[Eugene]

Source: Reuters

World | Thu May 12, 2016 1:15pm EDT

Iranian Muslims to miss haj pilgrimage amid rift with Saudi

Iranian Muslims will miss the annual haj pilgrimage to Saudi Arabia in September, media reported on Thursday, as Tehran and Riyadh traded blame over a failure to agree organizational details.

The regional rivals cut diplomatic ties in January.

Iran's official IRNA news agency quoted Tehran's Islamic Guidance and Culture Minister Ali Jannati as blaming Riyadh for the impasse. Last year's haj was marred by the death of over 2,000 pilgrims, 464 of them Iranian, in a crush during the crowded pilgrimage to Mecca, Islam's holiest city.

"The arrangements have not been put together and it's now too late," said Jannati, whose ministry oversees arrangements for Iranian pilgrims. "The sabotage is coming from the Saudi side."

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Read more: http://www.reuters.com/article/us-iran-saudi-pilgrim-idUSKCN0Y31SO?il=0

[mr blur]

1. Two bald men fighting over a comb. nt

[Act_of_Reparation]

2. "Brezhnev took Afghanistan...

...Begin took Beirut,
Galtieri took the Union Jack.
And Maggie, over tea one day, hired a cruiser with all hands,
apparently, to make him give it back."

- Pink Floyd, "Get Your Filthy Hands Off My Desert"