Reuters, Riyadh :An Iranian delegation has left Saudi Arabia without an agreement for its citizens to perform Haj this year, Saudi media have reported.It was the second failure by the rival Middle East powers to strike a deal over Haj arrangements.Relations between the two countries worsened after hundreds of Iranians died in a crush during last year’s Haj and after Riyadh broke diplomatic ties when its Tehran embassy was stormed in January over the Saudi execution of a Shia cleric.”At dawn on Friday, the Iranian mission expressed its desire to leave for home without signing the minutes of arrangements,” the official Saudi Press Agency reported late on Friday. Riyadh accuses Tehran of politicising pilgrimage Iran’s top Haj official Saeed Ohadi said there was still room to find agreement until Sunday night, according to Tehran’s official IRNA news agency. Saudi Arabia blamed Iran for the impasse. “We witnessed a lack of seriousness by the Iranian side in dealing with the issue. It is yet another attempt by them to politicise the Haj,” said Abdulmohsen Alyas, an under-secretary at Riyadh’s information ministry.After an earlier attempt to agree on Haj terms failed this month, Iran’s leadership had blamed Saudi Arabia for the delay, saying it was “very concerned” for the safety of Iranian pilgrims after last year’s disaster.Saudi Arabia’s Haj ministry said it had met a number of Iran’s concerns, offering electronic visas, a deal on air transport for pilgrims and diplomatic representation by Switzerland for Iranians in Makkah.AFP adds: Iranians will not take part in this year’s Mecca pilgrimage because of “obstacles” raised by Saudi Arabia, custodian of Islam’s holiest sites, Iran’s Culture Minister Ali Jannati said Sunday.In the latest dispute between the two regional rivals, “after two series of negotiations without any results because of obstacles raised by the Saudis, Iranian pilgrims will unfortunately not be able to take part in the hajj” pilgrimage, expected to take place this year in September, he said, quoted by state television.Saudi officials have said an Iranian delegation wrapped up a visit to the kingdom on Friday without reaching a final agreement on arrangements for hajj pilgrims from the Islamic republic.The Saudi hajj ministry said it had offered “many solutions” to meet a string of demands made by the Iranians in two days of talks.Agreement had been reached in some areas, including to use electronic visas which could be printed out by Iranian pilgrims, as Saudi diplomatic missions remain shut in Iran, it said.Riyadh cut ties with Tehran in January after Iranian demonstrators torched its embassy and a consulate following its execution of a prominent Shiite cleric.Shiite Iran and predominantly Sunni Saudi Arabia are at odds over a raft of regional issues, notably the conflicts in Syria and Yemen in which they support opposing sides.Earlier this month, Iran had accused its regional rival of seeking to “sabotage” the hajj, a pillar of Islam that devout Muslims must perform at least once during their lifetime if they are able.
