Iran, in its bid for hegemony in the region, again played the Haj card without a care for the consequences on its citizens. It tried to force Saudi Arabia's, which has been hosting the pilgrims seeking to perform the fifth pillar of Islam, hand by issuing an ultimatum to either give in to their demands or else... The Kingdom tried to get Iran to see reason but the latter walked out of the talks to leave the issue deadlocked. Iran while walking out in a huff also said that it would not be sending its pilgrims to this year's Haj. In the end Iran deprived its citizens from performing Haj this year. Their reason, in addition to accusing the Kingdom of sabotage, is that Saudi Arabia did not give any guarantees to ensure the safety of its pilgrims. This assertion is totally baseless while bordering on the nonsensical. Iran refused to sign the Haj memorandum, which was signed by 74 countries without any objection. It resorted to the age-old ploy of asking for the impossible while playing the victim in the row. With its refusal, it wanted to turn the tables against Saudi Arabia by portraying it as a denier of simple requests and politicize Haj. It is an effort also by the Iranian government to divert attention from its many internal problems caused by exporting chaos in the region, while switching global attention on Saudi Arabia for its harsh stand — an expired trick in the political world. Since the unification of Saudi Arabia, the country takes pride in serving pilgrims of the two holy mosques. Yes it is a pride that we will continue to carry forever. It is similar to the pride we all take while serving guests in our homes. The Saudi Arabian government mobilizes its facilities and efforts to serve the guests of the two holy mosques. Only pilgrims and visitors to the two holy mosques see and feel that. Following Iran's decision to boycott this year's Haj, the Council of Ministers, chaired by Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Salman, said that Iran is politicizing Haj and exploiting it to harm the Kingdom, which harnesses all its material and potential to serve pilgrims and ensures their safety and comfort during Haj and Umrah. Iran then went on full swing and mobilized its media to launch an aggressive campaign against Saudi Arabia and used its minions in the Arab region to reiterate its message. For Iran will go to any lengths to fabricate lies and repeat those lies in its media and in the media it controls in the Arab region through its sycophants to instigate the Iranian people against the Kingdom. The irony is that such baseless claims are coming from a country that has an outrageous record in destabilizing the region by exporting chaos. I am sure readers are aware of the Iranian role in Iraq and supporting militias by providing them arms and weapons to kill innocent Iraqis. Iran has a murky record in supporting Bashar Assad regime that is killing innocent Syrians every day. Iran has a black record in supporting militias in Yemen to destabilize that country. With such a record in the region, what safety of pilgrims are they talking about? The Iranian regime has in the past tried to use Haj, believe it or not, to create fissure in the Muslim world. Iran wants to use this peaceful occasion where Muslims come from all over the world to worship God and turn it into a gathering of political demonstrations. It is still fresh in the memories of millions of Muslims around the world the chaos Iranian pilgrims caused in 1987 in Makkah. All saw the destruction and disturbances the Iranian pilgrims caused, motivated and driven by the regime of course. They blocked roads, raised political banners, burned properties, terrorized pilgrims. In the melee, 85 Saudis including police officers were killed, 45 pilgrims from different countries too died in addition to 275 Iranian pilgrims. The main aim at that time for the planned performance was to show that the Saudi Arabian government was not capable of managing Haj. In 1989, the explosion in Makkah that killed one person and injured 16 others was also Iran's handiwork. The blast was carried out by Hezbollah Kuwait, which had received training in Iran. This group confessed to their ties with Iran. The resultant probe revealed that the group had used TNT explosives and received instructions from diplomats at the Iranian Embassy. I do feel sorry for the Iranian people who had hoped to perform Haj this year and were deprived by their government. The Iranian government should think hard that because of its dirty politics, innocent Iranian pilgrims have been deprived of the chance to perform Haj before they die. The escalation by the Iranian government is another desperate step to cover for its huge losses in regional wars in which it is needlessly involved. The stand by the Saudi Arabian government against any attempt to politicize Haj is firm, strong and decisive. There is no way on earth that Saudi Arabia will jeopardize the safety of pilgrims, and Iran can take it or leave it. Iran is living in an illusory world that it is the new police officer of the region and it gets to dictate what it wants. In the illusion it sees itself creating a big empire that includes Iraq and Syria. It lives in an illusion that it has successfully marketed a peaceful image of a country that wants peace with its neighbors. And of course, it lives in an illusion that it can pressure Saudi Arabia to do what it wants. That will never happen. The writer can be reached at [email protected] Twitter: @anajeddawi_eng
