GCC seeks to cover up terrorism, Wahhabism link: Iran
Iran has shrugged off allegations leveled by the GCC, the [Persian] Gulf Cooperation Council, saying the body seeks to cover up the link between Takfiri Wahhabism, preached in Saudi Arabia, and terrorism.
Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Bahram Qassemi on Monday dismissed as “hackneyed and baseless” the anti-Iran claims in a statement issued at the end of the GCC ministerial council session which was held at the headquarters of Saudi Arabia’s permanent mission to the United Nations in New York.
The statement groundlessly accused Iran of continuing to interfere in other countries’ internal affairs and stirring sectarian divisions among its own people. It also alleged that Iran is making attempts to politicize Hajj and to exploit it for political goals.
Qassemi said such allegations are in line with a blame game policy pursued by Saudi Arabia to divert attention away from the international community’s increasing inquiries about the connection between Wahhabism and its supporters and acts of terror over the past two decades.
He added that efforts by Saudi Arabia, a “pretentious” member of the council, to impose its “biased and one-sided views” on “limited and small-scale diplomatic” meetings are a “futile and invalid tactic.”
“Saudis cannot shirk their responsibility for the deaths of thousands of Hajj pilgrims through such provocative moves,” the Iranian spokesperson said, referring to a deadly crush that took place during last year’s Hajj pilgrimage in Mina, near the holy Saudi city of Mecca.
The tragic incident took place during the Hajj rituals in Mina on September 24, 2015, when two large masses of pilgrims converged at a crossroads during the symbolic ceremony of the stoning of Satan in Jamarat.
About 7,000 people, including 465 Iranians, lost their lives in the crush, the deadliest incident in the history of the pilgrimage, with Iran having the greatest number of deaths among foreign nationals.
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