Commander: IRGC Ready for Rapid, Harsh Reaction to Saudis
Sat Oct 03, 2015 2:24
http://english.farsnews.com/newstext.aspx?nn=13940711000883
TEHRAN (FNA)- Commander of the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps Major General
Mohammad Ali Jafari warned that the IRGC forces are prepared to give a swift
and harsh response to Saudi Arabia to make Riyadh accountable for the death
of hundreds of Iranian pilgrims in Mina incident.
"In line with materializing the Supreme Leader of the Islamic Revolution's
will, the IRGC has prepared all the possible capacities for Iran's swift and
tough reaction to make the Saudi regime accountable for the horrifying
catastrophe in Mina and to restore the rights of the victimized pilgrims in
Mina and we are waiting for the execution order," Jafari said in Tehran on
Saturday.
"If necessary, the IRGC is firmly and mightily ready to defend the honor of
the Muslims, specially the revolutionary Iranian people, against the
oppressive and unwise al-Saud rulers and take a harsh revenge from al-Saud
for this horrible crime," he said.
Jafari underlined that the Muslim world is exhausted with the Saudi regime's
crimes in Yemen, Syria, Bahrain and Iraq as well as its plots to create
discord among Muslims across the globe, and said the Riyadh regime will be
annihilated and drowned in Muslims' fury soon.
A stampede during one of the last rituals of the Hajj season on September 24
killed at least 4,173 people and left thousands wounded.
The stampede occurred during the ritual known as "stoning the devil" in the
tent city of Mina, about two miles from Mecca.
At least 465 Iranians lost their lives in the incident, while 150 others
were wounded. The latest reports said 14 Iranian pilgrims are still
hospitalized in Saudi Arabia, while others have either died or been treated
and left the hospital, preparing to come back to home.
On Wednesday, Supreme Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyed Ali
Khamenei warned Saudi Arabia that the slightest disrespect for the Iranian
pilgrims who are in Mecca for the Hajj ceremony would be reciprocated with
Tehran's harsh and crushing response.
Ayatollah Khamenei called for setting up a fact-finding committee of Iranian
and other Islamic countries' authorities to probe the death of over 4,000
Hajj pilgrims in Mina and missing of hundreds of them, and said, "The Saudi
government is not complying with its responsibilities to transfer the bodies
of those who have been killed (in Mina stampede) and the Islamic Republic of
Iran has so far, respected the brotherhood in the Muslim world by exercising
self-restraint and Islamic politeness but they should know that the
slightest disrespect for tens of thousands of Iranian Hajj pilgrims in Mecca
and Medina and any lack of responsibility to transfer the bodies will
result in Iran's crushing and violent reaction."
Ayatollah Khamenei underlined that Iran doesn’t want to have an early
judgment of the cause of the incident "but we believe that the Saudi
government hasn’t acted upon its responsibilities with regard to the injured
pilgrims in the Mina incident and has left them desperate and thirsty".
He said Iran has so far practiced self-restraint over the death of its
citizens in Saudi Arabia, "but they should know that Iran's hand is above
many others and it enjoys more possibilities too and if it wants to show
reaction to annoying and insidious actors, they will not have a good
situation and they won't be able to gain victory on any scene of rivalry."
"The Islamic Republic of Iran doesn’t practice cruelty but it also doesn’t
accept anyone's oppression and cruelty; therefore, it doesn’t trample on the
rights of any human beings and nations, either Muslim or non-Muslim, but if
anyone wants to trample Iran and its nation's rights, he/she will receive a
strong response; and thanks God, there is a capability for such a
confrontation and the Iranian nation is powerful and resistant," Ayatollah
Khamenei underscored.
Meantime, Iranian lawmakers said that the Parliament is planning to
investigate the stampede incident.
"The parliament's National Security and Foreign Policy Commission will hold
a special session to discuss the stampede in Mecca," member of the
parliament's National Security and Foreign Policy Commission Mohammad Reza
Mohseni Sani told reporters.
Mohseni Sani blamed the Saudi officials for the disorder which resulted in
the death of thousands of the Hajj pilgrims, and urged the Iranian Judiciary
and Foreign Ministry to pursue the case.
Sources revealed that the convoy of Saudi Arabia's Deputy Crown Prince and
Defense Minister Mohammad bin Salman Al Saud caused panic among millions of
pilgrims and started the stampede.
"The large convoy of Mohammad bin Salman Al Saud, the King's son and deputy
crown prince, that was escorted by over 350 security forces, including 200
army men and 150 policemen, sped up the road to go through the pilgrims that
were moving towards the site of the 'Stoning the Devil' ritual, causing
panic among millions of pilgrims who were on the move from the opposite
direction and caused the stampede," several Arab papers, including the
Arabic language al-Dyar newspaper, disclosed the day Mina incident happened.
"That's why the ruler of Mecca has distanced himself from the case,
stressing that the issue should be studied and decided by the King," it
added.
No other source has yet confirmed the report, but observers said the
revelation explains why two of the roads to the 'Stoning the Devil' site has
been closed.
Eye witnesses said earlier that the Saudi police and security forces had
closed two of the few roads to the stone column that were to be used by
millions of pilgrims to do the 'Stoning the Devil' ritual.
Saeed Ohadi, the head of Iran's Hajj organization, accused Saudi Arabia of
safety errors and mismanagement.
He said for "unknown reasons" the paths had been closed off near the scene
of the symbolic stoning of the devil ritual where the accident later took
place.
"This caused this tragic incident," he told the Iranian state television.
Eyewitness accounts said that even after incident the Saudi security and
military forces closed all paths leading to the scene and the bodies of
pilgrims have piled up on each other.
Others blamed Riyadh for mismanagement of Hajj ceremony, adding that many of
the wounded pilgrims are dying of the hot weather conditions, which reached
46 degrees centigrade on September 24, while police and the army have closed
access roads to the site of the incident making the relief and rescue
operations and trafficking of ambulances very difficult.
Pilgrims present on the scene are also complaining about insufficient number
of medical teams and centers. Reports said hospitals are overwhelmed by the
large number of the wounded.
Twelve hours after the incident, the dead body of hundreds of those killed
in the stampede were still piled up out in the streets.
Head of the Iranian pilgrims Seyed Ali Qazi Askar in an interview with the
state TV after the incident complained that the Saudi officials do not allow
other countries' relief and rescue squads to help.
"They have even prevented us from aiding our own pilgrims," he complained
with surprise.
The Mina crush was the third incident in the Hajj rituals this year.
In the first incident, a crane crash over the Grand Mosque of Mecca killed
over 100 and injured hundreds more two weeks ago.
Ten days before the start of Hajj this year, a construction crane crashed
through the roof of the Grand Mosque in Mecca, killing 107 pilgrims. At
least 238 others suffered injuries when a powerful storm toppled the crane.
A week later, a fire incident at a Mecca hotel claimed the lives of several
other pilgrims.
A Saudi analyst said on the condition of anonymity for the fear of his life
that the two stampede and crane crash incidents were the result of rivalries
between a part of the Saudi police and security service and Saudi King
Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud to display that the Saudi king and crown prince
are incompetent and unable to handle the Hajj ceremony.
Rivalries are tough and deep among different royal families who are all
descendant of the Al-Saud and see themselves entitled to the thrown. The
present king is the first from Sodayri family of Al-Saudi to have ascended
to power.
This is not the first time that hundreds die during the Hajj rituals.
The ceremony was the scene of stampedes and hundreds of deaths in the 1980s
and 1990s as pilgrims passed a crowded bottleneck area leading to the small
pillars on the ground.
Incidents during the Hajj
September 2015
At least 453 killed and over 700 injured in crush outside Mecca
January 2006
364 pilgrims were killed in a stampede at the entrance to a bridge leading
to the stoning site in Mina, outside Mecca
February 2004
251 pilgrims were trampled to death during the stoning ritual
February 2003
14 Muslim pilgrims were crushed to death performing the stoning ritual
March 2001
35 pilgrims killed in stampede
April 1998
Around 180 pilgrims were trampled to death when panic erupted after several
fell off an overpass at al-Jamarat
April 1997
343 pilgrims were killed and 1,500 injured in a tent fire at the overcrowded
Mina camp. At a result, the tents are now fireproof and gas cooking
cylinders are banned
May 1994
Around 270 were killed in a stampede
June 1990
1,426 killed in a stampede inside a pedestrian tunnel leading out from Mecca
towards Mina and the Plains of Arafat
July 1989
Two bombs exploded, killing one and wounding over a dozen others
July 1987
Over 400 killed during clashes between Saudi security forces and Iranian
demonstrators in Mecca
December 1975
A fire in a tent city at Mina killed around 200 people. The fire was
reportedly started by an exploding gas tank
The growing number of incidents and deaths during the Hajj rituals,
including three this year, have caused increasing criticisms from the public
and various Muslim states officials and elites who believe that Riyadh is
incapable of running the Hajj ceremony, stressing that the Muslim site
should be run by all the Muslim states and through a global Muslim world
body such as the OIC.
Following the incident, Chairman of the Iranian Parliament's National
Security and Foreign Policy Commission Alaeddin Boroujerdi blamed Saudi
Arabia for closing the paths leading to a bottleneck in the tent city of
Mina which caused the stampede and killed hundreds of pilgrims, stressing
that the incident once again showed that Riyadh is not qualified to run the
Hajj ceremony.
"The Saudi government showed that it is ineligible and incompetent to manage
the Hajj ceremony," Boroujerdi told FNA.
He also called on the Islamic countries to take a serious decision as soon
as possible to protect the lives of pilgrims during the Hajj season.
Also after the crane crash in Mecca, several Egyptian religious figures
joined the growing number of Muslim world elites and politicians demanding
the change of authority in charge of running Hajj rituals from Riyadh to a
collection of Muslim states.
"Many mistakes have been made during the Hajj ceremony in recent decades and
the bloody Friday incident was not the first case and will not be the last
either; therefore, unless a revolution doesn’t take place in the
administration and management of the Hajj ceremony in Saudi Arabia, we will
witness such incidents in future too," Sheikh Salman Mohammad, the advisor
of Egypt's ministry of endowment, told FNA.
Also Ashraf Fahmi, a professor at Egypt's al-Azhar university, said that
Saudi Arabia should admit its mistakes in handling the Hajj ceremony and
take serious measures to correct the way it administers the ceremony.
Storms were lashing the Saudi city of Mecca when strong winds reportedly
brought down the crane that was part of construction works.
Tons of rubble and debris crashed to the ground on top of scores of people
gathering in the mosque for 6:30 prayers when a section of the crane crashed
through the roof.
At least 107 people were killed and 238 more were injured when the crane
collapsed on to the Grand Mosque during storms.
The crane operated for a company owned by Saudi Prince Muhammad Bin Salman,
Arab media disclosed following the incident early in September.
Meantime, other media sources claimed that the crane belongs to a German
crane company operated by the Bin Laden family's consortium who are heading
the expansion of the Holy Mosque.
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