TEHRAN – The head of Iran’s Hajj and Pilgrimage Organization has said the Islamic Republic will not send people to Hajj pilgrimage unless Saudi Arabia ensures safety for Iranians.   

“The dispatch of Iranian pilgrims to Hajj depends on the Saudi side accepting Iran’s rational conditions and providing safety for Iranian pilgrims,” Saeed Ohadi said in a telephone interview with IRIB on Thursday.

The official made the remarks as an Iranian delegation is in Saudi Arabia at the official invitation of new Saudi Hajj and Umrah Minister Mohammad Saleh bin Taher Benten to discuss arrangements for pilgrimage months after a deadly crush in Mina which killed hundreds of pilgrims, including 460 Iranians.

SP/PA