Iran Demands Role in Hajj Stampede Probe, Holds Anti-Saudi Protest

Iran demanded Friday that it and other affected countries be represented in the Saudi investigation into the stampede that killed more than 700 pilgrims, including 131 Iranians, at this year's hajj.

"Countries such as Iran, which have suffered so much, should be represented in the inquiry to determine the causes of the catastrophe and to gain assurances that it will not be repeated in the future," First Vice President Eshaq Jahangiri said after an extraordinary session of the cabinet.

"There is no question about the poor management" of the pilgrimage and the "inexperience of security personnel" on the ground at the time, he added.

"The Saudi government is responsible and must respond."

Earlier in the day, Iranian authorities organized a demonstration against Saudi Arabia's management of the annual hajj as it mourned its slain citizens.

Iranian leaders have been deeply critical of the Saudi authorities over what they charge were flawed safety measures that led to Thursday's tragedy.

"Saudi Arabia is incapable of organizing the pilgrimage," said Ayatollah Mohammad Emami Kashani, leading the main weekly Muslim prayers in Tehran.

"The running of the hajj must be handed over to Islamic states." 

After the prayers, worshipers held a protest against the "mischievous and incompetent regime" in Riyadh, said the Islamic Propagation Coordination Council which organizes state-sponsored demonstrations in Iran.

Thursday's loss of life was the biggest to hit the annual Muslim pilgrimage in a quarter-century and came just weeks after a crane collapse in the holy city of Mecca killed more than 100 pilgrims, many of them foreigners.

Iran's supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei blamed "improper measures" and "mismanagement" by Saudi authorities, who he said "must accept the huge responsibility for this catastrophe."

Shiite Iran and Sunni Saudi Arabia are bitter rivals whose relations are already strained by regional conflicts from Syria to Yemen.

The custodianship of the Muslim holy places forms a key plank in the Saudi monarchy's claims to legitimacy.