Iran Says Hajj Death Toll Hits 464

Ali Marashi, head of the Iranian Red Crescent medical center in Tehran, said Iran had given up hope that any of those missing were still alive.

Saudi Arabia’s state-run news agency SPA has reported that at least 769 people were killed in the stampede with 900 others injured.

Just hours after strong words from Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khamenei, a deal has been reached to repatriate the bodies of his compatriots killed in the Haj pilgrimage stampede near Mecca.

Relatives, accompanying pilgrims and Hajj agents have been requested to help the Bangladesh Hajj mission in Makkah to identify the dead bodies.

“I think what Iran has said contradicts the principle of sovereignty and lack of interference in others’ affairs”.

“They should know that the slightest disrespect towards tens of thousands of Iranian pilgrims in Mecca and Medina and not fulfilling their obligation to transfer holy bodies, will have Iran’s tough and fierce reaction”.

Speaking to editors in New York on September 25, ahead of his address at the United Nations General Assembly, Iranian President Hassan Rouhani said the pilgrims’ death “shows an ineptitude” by Saudi Arabia.

The total figure could be even larger as the AP survey covered only 15 of the more than 180 countries that sent a few 2 million pilgrims to the annual pilgrimage, a pillar of Islamic faith. Ali Shamkhani, the secretary of Iran’s Supreme National Security Council, dismissed claims that Roknabadi had been snatched as “unreal”. After this year’s disaster, Saudi Arabia’s most senior cleric, the Grand Mufti Sheikh Abdul Aziz bin-Abdullah al-Sheikh, defended the Saudi authorities, saying the disaster was “beyond human control”, the BBC reported.

Saudi ambulances arrive with pilgrims who were injured in a stampede at an emergency hospital in Mina.

The Saudi coalition alleged that Iran was using the vessel to ship arms to the rebels, charges denied by Tehran. The two are already fiercely opposed on a number of foreign policy issues – particularly over Yemen where a Saudi-led coalition has targeted Houthi Shiite rebels backed by Tehran. It is also high time that the Saudis should immediately withdraw all funding for the ISIS terrorist group and stop bombing Yemen and instead concentrate on managing their responsibilities to ensure the safety of the Hajj pilgrims during this most important event of the Muslim world.