Saudi Arabia treats other nations with contempt: Analyst

Press TV has conducted an interview with Seyed Mostafa Khoshcheshm, a political analyst in Tehran, to discuss the remarks made by Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei, saying the Saudi rulers should apologize for the recent deadly incident that killed hundreds of pilgrims during Hajj rituals instead of dodging their responsibility.

What follows is a rough transcription of the interview.

Press TV: How do you react to Ayatollah Khamenei’s demand for an apology?

Khoshcheshm: Well as a matter of fact you can see that many people call the recent stampede, the catastrophe in Mina, result of mismanagement but I do call it a lack of management, a total absence of management on the part of the Saudis at all.

And not only that they were not prepared and they did not take any preparatory measure before the Hajj ceremony started but also throughout this Hajj ceremony similar to the past and also during the chaos that erupted throughout the hajj ceremony since the very beginning we have observed, if you remember, the crane crash, then we observed this Mina incident and then the fire in the tents of the Egyptians in Mina and many other similar incidents this year and we have observed almost the same in previous years.

But now that they have been offered help by Iran and other countries to help them with those wounded in this incident, unfortunately they are treating other nations with contempt. This is the contemptuous behavior of the Saudi regime that has angered many throughout the world and this is not only exclusive to this incident.

Remember that two years ago they won a seat after so many discussions and debates at the UN Security Council but they dropped it over night without any respect for other nations that voted in favor of them to go to the UN Security Council and supported them of course and also a few months ago the Saudi King went to the seaside in France, we all remember that they closed the seashore and the French grew angry and they started crying out why the Saudi King and his entourage that consisted of one thousand people, why are they doing this to us? This is our own land.

So they started to protest and they kicked out the Saudi King but whenever they treat other nations, only because they have earned a lot of petrodollars, they treat other nations with contempt. They do not accept their responsibility. They do not acknowledge that they have done a very grave mistake and this is not their first time. This has happened especially in Mina, this stampede, this has happened for the last 25 years.    

Press TV: I want to ask, I am wondering as far as accountability goes then, you are saying that the Saudis are not taking responsibility and of course Ayatollah Khamenei has mentioned that as well. What needs to happen then when it comes to accountability?  

Khoshcheshm: Well first of all the Saudis should accept that they have done a mistake and they should improve at least their help and rescue squads and they should accept other nations’ aid.

Remember one of the main causes of this incident was because the security and police and the army people that are standing and guarding the pilgrims, they should be trained. Especially this year they have not received any kind of training. They are young. Why? Because most of those veteran guards and securities, they have been sent to either Qatif in eastern Saudi Arabia to dictate and bully the Shias in there or to Yemen. Most of them have been sent to the war in another country because Yemen and bullying the Yemeni people is the top priority of the Riyadh regime. They have been treating the lives of pilgrims like this, with no value.  

And remember that another point, another catastrophe is that Mr. Keith Still who designed the bridge, he has conducted many interviews with the western news agencies and he has said he has been the designer of road 204 where this stampede took place. He has already stated that on several occasions he had warned the Saudi officials that if this path gets too crowded, catastrophe will be eminent and he had issued repeated warnings to his counterparts in the Saudi university and his counterpart in the project and they have never listened to him.

And remember what makes it worse is that the one way road suddenly because the deputy crown prince, he wanted to take part in a ceremony along with his dad - the King in Mina Palace - they closed the main road in order to provide him a passage to go through the crowd and the one way road was turned into a two way road only for the deputy crown prince. And what does this mean if this does not mean lack of value and attaching value to the lives of five million people when you want to just open a path for a deputy crown prince and you crush so many people for the sake of him?

Press TV’s website can also be accessed at the following alternate addresses:

www.presstv.ir