--- title: Iran-Saudi War of Words Escalates Before Hajj description: After a stampede last year that killed at least 750 people, Iran has been highly critical of Saudi Arabia’s management of Mecca canonical: https://time.com/4483465/saudi-arabia-iran-hajj-islam-mecca-ayatollah-khamenei-abdulaziz-sheikh/ author: Feliz Solomon article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2016-09-08T06:48:04.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-23T00:27:49.574Z article:section: World og:title: Iran-Saudi War of Words Escalates Before Hajj og:description: Iran says the Saudi ruling family “does not deserve to be in charge" of Mecca og:url: https://time.com/4483465/saudi-arabia-iran-hajj-islam-mecca-ayatollah-khamenei-abdulaziz-sheikh/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt10f330962ae4e6e1/6988a5318e06015e9c4675ed/gettyimages-598734472.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: Muslim pilgrims in Mecca for Hajj og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Iran-Saudi War of Words Escalates Before Hajj twitter:description: Iran says the Saudi ruling family “does not deserve to be in charge" of Mecca twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt10f330962ae4e6e1/6988a5318e06015e9c4675ed/gettyimages-598734472.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Saudi Arabia and Iran Are Exchanging Insults in Lead-Up to This Year’s Hajj by [Feliz Solomon](/author/feliz-solomon/) ## Feliz Solomon Sep 8, 2016 6:48 AM CUT  Muslim pilgrims circumambulate around the Kaaba, Islam's holiest site, located in the center of the Grand Mosque in Mecca, Saudi Arabia, on Sept. 2, 2016 Muslim pilgrims circumambulate around the Kaaba, Islam's holiest site, located in the center of the Grand Mosque in Mecca, Saudi Arabia, on Sept. 2, 2016Anadolu Agency—Getty Images by [Feliz Solomon](/author/feliz-solomon/) ## Feliz Solomon Sep 8, 2016 6:48 AM CUT A war of words between the religious leaders of Iran and Saudi Arabia continues to escalate in the approach to hajj, the annual Islamic pilgrimage to the holy city of Mecca. Iranian citizens will not be participating in this year’s pilgrimage, after security disputes stymied an agreement that would have enabled them to join. Referring to a stampede last year that [killed at least 750 people](http://time.com/4048857/hajj-stampede-saudi-arabia-criticism/ "undefined"), Iran’s Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, on Monday criticized Saudi Arabia’s management of the Islamic world’s holiest site, which lies within Saudi borders. Khamenei said the Saudi ruling family “does not deserve to be in charge and manage the holy sites,” Agence France-Presse [reports](https://www.yahoo.com/news/iran-president-calls-muslims-punish-saudi-crimes-084128681.html "undefined"). Saudi Arabia’s Grand Mufti Sheik Abdulaziz al-Sheik in turn told reporters that Iran’s leaders “are not Muslims,” according to a local report cited by [_al-Jazeera_](http://www.aljazeera.com/news/2016/09/saudi-iran-war-words-escalates-hajj-row-160907104137364.html "undefined")_. “_They are children of the Magi and their hostility towards Muslims is ancient,” he reportedly said, referring to a pre-Islamic Persian religion. Saudi Arabia and Iran follow different branches of Islam — Sunni and Shi‘ite, respectively — and hold deeply opposing views on Middle Eastern politics. Hajj is one of the five pillars of Islam, which every able-bodied Muslim must undertake at some point in their lifetime. The pilgrimage, which will begin on Friday and conclude on Sunday, attracts millions of people each year. \[[_AFP_](https://www.yahoo.com/news/iran-president-calls-muslims-punish-saudi-crimes-084128681.html "undefined"), [_al-Jazeera_](http://www.aljazeera.com/news/2016/09/saudi-iran-war-words-escalates-hajj-row-160907104137364.html "undefined")\] ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4483465/saudi-arabia-iran-hajj-islam-mecca-ayatollah-khamenei-abdulaziz-sheikh/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4483465/saudi-arabia-iran-hajj-islam-mecca-ayatollah-khamenei-abdulaziz-sheikh/"},"headline":"Saudi Arabia and Iran Are Exchanging Insults in Lead-Up to This Year’s Hajj","datePublished":"2016-09-08T06:48:04.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-23T00:27:49.574Z","description":"Iran's Supreme Leader says the Saudi ruling family “does not deserve to be in charge\" of Mecca","url":"https://time.com/4483465/saudi-arabia-iran-hajj-islam-mecca-ayatollah-khamenei-abdulaziz-sheikh/","keywords":["Middle East","Iran","Religion","Saudi Arabia"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt10f330962ae4e6e1/6988a5318e06015e9c4675ed/gettyimages-598734472.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Feliz Solomon","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/feliz-solomon/"}],"articleSection":"World","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt10f330962ae4e6e1/6988a5318e06015e9c4675ed/gettyimages-598734472.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Muslim pilgrims in Mecca for Hajj","caption":"Muslim pilgrims in Mecca for Hajj","creditText":"Anadolu Agency—Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/world/","name":"World"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/middle-east/","name":"Middle East"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4483465/saudi-arabia-iran-hajj-islam-mecca-ayatollah-khamenei-abdulaziz-sheikh/","name":"Saudi Arabia and Iran Are Exchanging Insults in Lead-Up to This Year’s Hajj"}}]}] ```