The deputy chief of staff of the Iranian armed
forces suggested Monday that the deadly Mecca crane collapse and hajj
stampede were orchestrated by Israel and Saudi Arabia.
At
least 107 people were killed and 238 injured when a crane collapsed on
the Grand Mosque during a storm on September 11. The head of Saudi
Arabia’s civil defense directorate said high winds caused the incident,
which also led to the death of a top Iranian scientist.
Last week, over 700 people were trampled to death during the annual
hajj pilgrimage in Mecca, including some 150 Iranian nationals.
Armed Forces Brigadier General Massoud
Jazzayeri linked the two incidents and said Israel and Saudi Arabia were
likely behind both.
“Given the usurper Zionist regime’s
infiltration and influence on the al-Saud, there is a growing
possibility that the crane crash incident at the Grand Mosque (in the
holy city of Mecca) and the death of thousands of people in Mina were
the result of deliberate crime,” Jazzayeri told the semi-official Fars
News Agency.
A
pilgrim points at a crane that collapsed and killed dozens inside the
Grand Mosque in Mecca, Saudi Arabia, Friday, Sept. 11, 2015. (AP Photo)
“Given the eyewitness accounts and the
increasing possibility that the two painful and regrettable incidents at
the Grand Mosque and Mina have been the result of intentional action,
fact-finding groups from all Muslim states have the responsibility to
decrypt this al-Saud’ crime,” he added.
The news report also said the stampede “killed
2,000 people and left 2,000 wounded on Thursday,” contradicting the
official death toll. President Hassan Rouhani made a similar comment on
Monday, saying thousands had died. Rouhani did not elaborate on specific
numbers nor provide the source for his figures.
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