TEHRAN – More than 3 million people have so far registered to participate in the Arbaeen march, IRNA reported on Thursday.

Over 72,000 foreign nationals have also registered up until the moment, the report added.

This year, visa requirement was removed for the pilgrims as a “positive step” toward paving the way for Iranian pilgrims visiting the neighboring country.

Arbaeen pilgrimage is a distinctively spiritual exercise, gathering Shias as well as Sunnis, even Christians and Zoroastrians, etc. from various nationalities altogether making their ways to

the holy Iraqi cities of Najaf and Karbala, walking towards the holy shrine of Imam Hussein (AS) commemorating the 40th day of his martyrdom in the battle of Karbala, in 680 AD.

Last year about 1.8 million Iranians took part in the ceremony. This is while in 2011 only 50,000 took the trek to Karbala which shows a great surge in the number of pilgrims taking the long walk to pay tribute to the third Shia Imam.

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