Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei, the Leader of the Islamic Revolution, in his remarks at the start of his course to clerics at the post-jurisprudence level, referred to the grave disaster at Mina, noting: “The Muslim world has plenty of questions in this regard and the Saudi Arabia’s rulers, instead of shifting blame [to others], must accept their responsibility in this heavy mishap by apologizing to the Islamic Ummah and their bereft families, and meeting their obligations to that effect.”   

Referring to the bitter incident at Mina, which turned the Eid al-Adha feast into a mourning occasion for the Islamic Ummah, Ayatollah Khamenei added: “One cannot feel relieved from this grief [even] for a single moment and over recent days this grief has been weighing heavily on the hearts of us and all Muslims.”

The Leader of the Islamic Revolution described the Saudi rulers’ blame game and their refusal to accept responsibility for this tragedy as an incorrect, futile and ineffective measure, saying: “The Muslim world has many questions and the death of more than 1,000 people in this incident is not a minor issue; therefore, the Muslim world must think of a remedy to this issue.” 

“This issue will not be forgotten and the nations will seriously follow it and the Saudis, instead of shifting blame onto others and incriminating this or that, must accept their responsibility and apologize to the Islamic Ummah and their bereaved families,” noted Ayatollah Khamenei.