“The officials in the Saudi government in charge of [maintaining] order in this huge ritual are responsible for the incident and should be answerable to the Islamic world,” the chairman of Iran’s Expediency Council Ayatollah Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani said in a message on Friday, Press TV reported.
The senior cleric extended his condolences to Muslims and the bereaved families of the victims over the deadly tragedy, which he said has brought grief upon the Islamic world, and hoped that those injured in the incident would recover soon.
According to Saudi officials, at least 717 pilgrims lost their lives in an overcrowding outside Mecca. Iran’s Hajj and Pilgrimage Organization has, however, has put the death toll at more than 1,300, which also includes 131 Iranians.