Iran says it has finally received Saudi hajj invite
TEHRAN (AFP) - Iran said
Tuesday it had finally received an official invitation from Saudi Arabia for its
pilgrims to attend this year’s hajj, two weeks after Riyadh announced it.
There was no official Iranian delegation at last year’s
pilgrimage to the Muslim holy places after Saudi Arabia severed relations with
Iran following the torching of its missions in Tehran and Mashhad by protesters
last January.
It
was the first time in three decades that Iranian pilgrims had been absent and
the culmination of years of worsening relations over the conflicts in Syria and
Yemen.
The tone is "not that much different from past
letters", hajj affairs representative Ali Ghazi Askar said, adding that
Iran would respond in the coming days.
"All matters regarding the hajj -- including accommodation,
food, medical affairs, transport, pilgrims’ security, banking and consular issues -- must immediately be studied
and appropriate solutions put forward."
Negotiations for Iranian pilgrims to join last year’s hajj broke
down over the questions of where their visas should be issued and how their
security could be assured following the deaths of 464 in a stampede at the 2015
hajj.
The Saudi-owned Al-Hayat newspaper reported on December 30 that
Saudi Pilgrimage Minister Mohammed Bentin had opened discussions with more than
80 countries, including Iran, on the arrangements for the 2017 hajj.
There was no immediate word on when or where the discussions
might take place.
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