Iran Press/Iran News: Speaking to reporters and journalists on Monday night, on the sidelines of a ceremony in Mina, Saudi Arabia, commemorating the Martyrs of Mina and the Martyrs of Masjid al-Haram or the Grand Mosque of Mecca, Rashidian forthrightly rejected any suggestion that talks between Iran and Saudi Arabia had ended, and that Iran was no longer pursuing the cases of the Mena martyrs. Rashidian also denied claims that an agreement had been reached between Tehran and Riadh regarding the victims of the Mena disaster.
Head of the Hajj and Pilgrimage Organisation, AliReza Rashidian said: "We won't allow the blood of the martyrs of Mena to be trampled over. We will never forget the victims of the 2015 Mina disaster, and we are pursuing their cases with the Saudi authorities and the talks are on-going. The first paragraph of any agreements that we have signed with the Saudis stresses the importance of safeguarding the dignity, peace of mind, well-being and safety of all Iranian pilgrims. That is of paramount importance to us, and we have always demanded and insisted on that, and shall continue to do so in the future."
Some weeks ago, Morteza Roknabadi, the brother of former Iranian diplomat and former ambassador to Lebanon, Ghazanfar Roknabadi, had claimed in a television interview that the Islamic Republic had signed an agreement with Saudi Arabia, accepting that Saudi authorities were not responsible for the 2015 Mena disaster, as part of a deal which allowed Iranian pilgrims, who did not attend Hajj in 2016, to once again take part in the annual pilgrimage. The former Iranian diplomat, Ghazanfar Roknabadi, was martyred in the Mena disaster during the 2015 Hajj pilgrimage to Saudi Arabia.
Thousands of pilgrims were crushed to death in 2015 in the plain of Mina near Mecca during the final days of the Hajj pilgrimage mainly due to the incompetence of Saudi officials and their inability to manage the Hajj. 464 Iranian pilgrims were among the thousands who were martyred in the 2015 Mina disaster.
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