Talks on to clear way for Iran’s Haj pilgrims

Tehran says it has submitted ‘conditions’ to join the Haj and it’s Riyadh’s ‘responsibility’ to accept them

ASaudi minister held talks with an Iranian delegation about the possibility of Iranian pilgrims rejoining the annual Haj despite ruptured ties between the two countries, state media reported late on Thursday.

Iran and Saudi Arabia have had strained diplomatic ties since early last year.

The kingdom’s minister in charge of pilgrimages, Mohammad Bentin, discussed with the Iranians “arrangements concerning participation of the Iranian faithful in this year’s Haj,” the official Saudi Press Agency (SPA) said.

It did not give more details but said the meeting took place on Thursday in the Red Sea city of Jeddah.

SPA said the talks occurred in the context of meetings organised by the pilgrimage ministry with various countries about accommodation and other logistics for the Haj, which will take place around early September.

For the first time in nearly three decades, Iran’s 64,000 pilgrims did not attend last year’s Haj after the regional rivals failed to agree on security and logistics.

Tensions remain as Saudi Arabia repeatedly accuses Iran of fuelling regional conflicts by supporting armed Shiite movements in Syria, Iraq, Yemen and Bahrain.

Iran rejects the accusations, and says Riyadh must stop its alleged “support for terrorists”.

But Saudi media reported in December that Bentin had invited Iran to discuss arrangements for this year’s pilgrimage. “Iran’s policy is to send pilgrims to the Haj. [This year as well], of course, if Saudi Arabia accepts our conditions,” Iran’s Culture Minister Reza Salehi Amiri told state television on Wednesday, when he confirmed Iran had sent a team to Saudi Arabia.

“In a letter I’ve written to the Saudi Haj minister I have specified our conditions,” he said.

“If they accept our conditions, we will definitely send pilgrims [this] year, otherwise the responsibility” will be Saudi Arabia’s.

More than 1.8 million faithful took part in last year’s Haj. The pilgrimage is one of the five pillars of Islam and all Muslims who can must perform it at least once in their lifetime.