Iran’s Shamkhani: Change in Riyadh’s Security Priorities Led to Mina Stampede
TEHRAN (Tasnim) – The secretary of Iran's Supreme National Security Council (SNSC) slammed the Saudi regime for its failure to guarantee the security of Hajj pilgrims, saying that the deployment of the Saudi forces to Yemen and Bahrain played a “decisive” role in a deadly stampede near Mecca.
Addressing a special meeting held to deal with a tragic disaster which killed hundreds of Hajj pilgrims, including more than 130 Iranian nationals, Ali Shamkhani voiced deep sorrow over the Saudi government’s "lack of focus and its negligence in properly holding the biggest gathering of Muslims in the Hajj season."
“A change in Saudi security priorities and the deployment of skilled security and military forces to invade Yemen and crack down on the Muslim people of Bahrain as well as reducing the quality and quantity of enforcement agents in the major Hajj had a decisive role in the disaster,” he noted,
At least 1300 pilgrims, including at least 131 Iranians, were killed Thursday in the stampede outside the Muslim holy city of Mecca, which was the worst disaster to strike the annual Hajj pilgrimage in 25 years.
Photographs published on the Twitter feed of the Saudi civil defense showed pilgrims lying on stretchers while emergency workers in high-visibility jackets lifted them into an ambulance.
The accident came nearly two weeks after tens of Hajj pilgrims were killed in another tragic incident in Mecca.
On September 11, a massive construction crane crashed into Mecca’s Grand Mosque in stormy weather, killing at least 107 people and injuring 201 others.
Saudi authorities have been blasted for their failure to ensure the safety of hundreds of thousands of pilgrims who converge on Mecca for Hajj every year.
The Hajj, the world’s largest annual gathering of people, has been the scene of numerous deadly stampedes, fires and riots in the past.