TEHRAN - Head of Iran’s Hajj and Pilgrimage Organization Saeed Ohadi has said the Saudi government prevented Iranians to participate in this year’s Hajj, fearing that dimensions of Mina disaster would be disclosed.

According to Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei, Iran was the only country that had “strong voice” in Saudi Arabia to find the victims of Mina incident, Ohadi said in an interview with Tasnim news agency published on Saturday.

Unfortunately, Saudis have not taken any action in delivering bodies of victims from the other Islamic countries, he added.

At least 769 people were killed in a stampede at the holiest Muslim pilgrimage site on September 24 last year. Among the dead were 464 Iranians.

After several rounds of negotiation between Iranian and Saudis officials to hash out discrepancies over the hajj issue, Hajj and Pilgrimage Organization of Iran (HPOI) announced on May 29 that it won’t dispatch pilgrims this year to Mecca because of inconsistency at decision-making level by Saudis.

Saudi Arabia severed diplomatic ties with Iran as Riyadh’s diplomatic posts in Tehran and Mashhad were attacked in public mobs, following the Saudi execution of Shia cleric Nimr al-Nimr in January.

NA