First batch of Iranian pilgrims to land in Saudi Arabia on July 31

Manama: The first batch of Iranian pilgrims will arrive in Saudi Arabia on July 31 despite the absence of diplomatic relations between the two countries since January last year.

Ali Qazi Askar, the representative of Iran’s leader for Haj and Pilgrimage Affairs, said that “good cooperation has been established” and that “Iran has not faced any problem with the pilgrims”.

“We hope to perform Haj this year without any problem,” he was quoted as saying by Iranian Students’ News Agency on Monday. “We feel that this year’s pilgrimage will be performed within a serene atmosphere.”

Qazi Askar said that Saudi Arabia had granted 10 Iranians who have Iran’s foreign ministry permits as consular representatives permission to carry out consular work in Jeddah, Makkah and Madinah.

In March, an agreement reached by Saudi Arabia and Iran on the arrangements for Iranians to perform pilgrimage marked a remarkable reversal of situation over last year when the two countries were deadlocked after Tehran demanded specific arrangements for its citizens and Riyadh insisted that all countries would receive the same treatment.

Iran eventually banned its citizens from performing Haj, the annual ritual required from all physically fit and financially able adult Muslims.

“Mohammad Bin Taher Bantan, Saudi Minister of Haj and Umrah, and Hamid Mohammadi, head of Iran’s Haj and Pilgrimage Organisation, discussed in Jeddah the arrangements for Haj for Iranians, as is the case with all other Arab and Islamic countries, and the two sides agreed on all the arrangements for the participation of the Iranians,” the Saudi Haj ministry said.

“The Iranians will perform Haj in accordance with the procedures adopted with the various Islamic countries.”

In Tehran, Qazi Askar said the accord enabled dispatch of 86,000 Iranians on pilgrimage.

“The Saudis said that they would take the responsibility and ensure comfort, esteem, dignity, and safety for the Iranian pilgrims while they are in the kingdom,” he said.

Every country has a Haj quota of 1,000 pilgrims per million Muslim citizens and the biggest contingent comes from Indonesia.