Ayatollah Khatami made the remarks while recalling crimes committed by Saudi rulers in dealing with the pilgrims in last year Hajj tragedy in which more than 7,000 Muslims including 461 Iranians were killed in a stampede during the Stoning of the Satan ritual in Mina due to the mismanagement of the Saudi rulers.

“There is no doubt that in Mina tragedy, the Saudi rulers are not the accused but the prime criminals and the guilty ones,” the cleric said while addressing worshipers during the Eid al-Adha (Eid Qorban in Iran) prayers sermons at Tehran University Campus,IRNA reports.

“They could see through their surveillance cameras that Muslims are falling to the ground. They could save at least half of the victims by just providing them with some water but they neither let the Iranian agents enter the scene nor did they come themselves. Their law enforcement officers did not make a move. 7,000 Muslim pilgrims burnt in the fire of the crimes of the House of Saud,” Ayatollah Khatemi said.

Ashura is on the tenth day of Muharram in the Islamic calendar and marks the climax of the Remembrance of Muharram when Imam Hussein (AS), the grandson of Prophet Muhammad (Peace Be Upon Him), was tragically killed with his family members and followers at the Battle of Karbala in the year 61 AH. The day is marked as a mourning day among Shiite Muslims.

He further recalled the term used by the Iran Supreme Leader of the Islamic Revolution to refer to the House of Saud, stressing that the most expressive term about them was the one used by the Leader.

In his statement to the Hajj 2016, Ayatollah Khamenei described the Saudi rulers as the “accursed tree of tyrants.”

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