2023-06-27 15:18:19
The Iranian travel agent, Ehsan, feels for the first time some “comfort and safety” while he is in Saudi Arabia to perform Hajj, months following a reconciliation agreement last March that ended a 7-year rupture between Riyadh and Tehran.
“Yes, we were subjected to restrictions. We felt that our presence was not wanted in the first place,” said Ihsan, 55, who is a pseudonym due to the sensitivity of the matter, without explaining the nature of this restrictions.
And the man, who said he had performed Umrah and Hajj several times, continues, speaking in broken Arabic, “We have been afflicted with fear and anxiety since our arrival, but all that has changed now following the reconciliation.”
And the man, who wore a jacket on which the flag of his country and its name were printed in Arabic and English, confirms: “Now things have returned to normal. I feel comfortable and safe,” noting that he accompanied his entire family to perform the rituals of Hajj.
The two countries surprisingly reached a Chinese-brokered reconciliation agreement in March, following a diplomatic break that began in January 2016.
Riyadh severed its relations with Tehran at the time, following demonstrations led to the burning of the Saudi embassy in Tehran and its consulate in Mashhad, following the execution of Saudi Arabia, the Shiite cleric Nimr al-Nimr.
The same year witnessed the absence of Iranian pilgrims from Hajj due to the two countries’ failure to agree on a protocol to regulate the issue, before they returned the following year to participate in the rituals.
However, Iranian citizens remained absent from the Umrah, which is performed throughout the year. Officials in the two countries said that the concerned bodies are in the process of addressing the controversial issues for the return of the Iranian Umrah trips soon.
Three weeks ago, Iran reopened its embassy in Riyadh, marking the inauguration of the two most prominent regional powers in the Gulf, a new phase of relations.
And with Saudi Arabia hosting Hajj this year without restrictions on the number or ages of pilgrims, Iran dispatched more than 86,000 pilgrims, according to Iranian media reports, in numbers similar to before the outbreak of the Corona pandemic.
Across the holy capital of Muslims, the Iranian flag can be seen on hotels or buses, or even printed on the white ihram garments or cloaks of pilgrims.
More than 86,000 Iranian pilgrims came to Saudi Arabia, “We became friends”
For decades, the pilgrimage has been a contentious issue between the two arch-neighbors, who have repeatedly traded accusations. Tehran accused Riyadh of “mistreatment of Iranian pilgrims.” Riyadh responded, accusing Tehran of attempting to “politicize the Hajj.”
The last of which was the exchange that followed a stampede during the stoning rituals in Mina near Mecca in 2015, which caused the death of regarding 2,300 pilgrims, including 464 Iranian pilgrims, in the worst disaster ever in the Hajj season.
The year 1987 also witnessed a clash between Saudi security forces and Iranian pilgrims who organized an unauthorized protest, which resulted in the death of more than 400 people, including 275 Iranians, according to an official toll.
The Iranian head of the family, Sarwa Al-Bobsi, 34, says in the lobby of a hotel designated for Iranians in Mecca that she feels safe, despite some warnings to her before heading to Saudi Arabia.
“There was some fear, but people love to come to God’s sacred house,” she explains.
“There has been reconciliation, we have become friends. The situation is better than before,” explains the woman, who wore a black abaya.
And she continues, “I am comfortable and feel safe, and my heart is safe in this place. I am very happy that I came to Saudi Arabia.”
During the opening ceremony of Tehran’s embassy in Riyadh, Iranian Deputy Foreign Minister Ali Reza Bekdli considered the move a “new era” in relations between the two regional powers.
Al-Waleed, a Saudi 50-year-old merchant who prefers to use only his first name, notes that Iranians are creating an economic boom because they visit the holy sites of Mecca and Medina in large numbers.
“It is in everyone’s interest that peace prevail between the two countries,” he says in his shop, while negotiating with an Iranian woman regarding the price of a rosary.
And in the corners of the Grand Mosque, Iranian women walk in large groups in their black abayas and their distinctive veil that covers most of the features of the face.
Zainab Magli, who came from Ahvaz in southern Iran, confirms how well it hosted the Saudis this year.
“Their reception (this year) is beautiful, since we entered Saudi Arabia, we have not been harmed,” says the 47-year-old woman, who previously performed Umrah.
And she hoped that things would continue in this way between the two parties, “We do not harm them, nor do they harm us.”
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