TEHRAN (Tasnim) – Senior Iranian cleric Ayatollah Nasser Makarem Shirazi vowed that the Islamic Ummah (community) would definitely get revenge against the Saudi regime for the tragic deaths of Hajj pilgrims in Mina last year.

“As we are approaching the days of Hajj rituals in Mina, the sad memories of last year's martyrs are more and more seared into our minds resulting in everyone cursing those committed (the killings),” Ayatollah Makarem Shirazi said in a statement on Saturday.

Undoubtedly, the tragedy was a stain on the reputation of the Al Saud regime which calls itself the guardian of Hajj pilgrims' lives, the cleric said, adding that such stain can never be cleaned.

“Al Saud should be aware that the memories will not fade into oblivion with the passage of time,” Ayatollah Makarem Shirazi said.

“The Islamic Ummah who lost their loved ones in this painful disaster will curse them and someday will take their revenge,” he noted.

He made the remarks on the occasion of the first anniversary of the deadly crush of people during the last year’s Hajj rituals in Mina, near the Saudi Arabia's holy city of Mecca, which claimed the lives of over 7,000 pilgrims, including 465 Iranians.

The incident marked the worst ever tragedy during Hajj.

Earlier and in a message on the occasion, Ayatollah Khamenei had strongly slammed “murderous” Saudi rulers for refusing to allow an international probe into last year’s deadly Mina crush, urging Muslims to “correctly understand their (Saudis’) blasphemous, faithless, dependent and materialistic nature".

“Several thousand families from different countries lost their loved ones and their nations were bereaved. From the Islamic Republic, close to five hundred people were among the martyrs. The hearts of their families are still broken and bereaved and our people remain grief-stricken and angry," the Leader said.

“Instead of apology and remorse and judicial prosecution of those who were directly at fault in that horrifying event, Saudi rulers- with utmost shamelessness and insolence- refused to allow the formation of an international Islamic fact-finding committee.”

Ayatollah Khamenei further stressed, "The world of Islam, including Muslim governments and peoples, must familiarize themselves with the Saudi rulers and correctly understand their blasphemous, faithless, dependent and materialistic nature. They must not let those rulers escape responsibility for the crimes they have caused throughout the world of Islam."

By Tasnim News Agency