Over 5.8 Million Iranians Still Waiting for Umrah Pilgrimage
Umrah differs from Hajj in that the latter is a lengthier visit which is done once a year and performed once in a lifetime by able-bodied Muslims who can afford it.
Figures show some 5.8 million Iranians are on a waiting list for travelling to Saudi Arabia to perform Umrah.
They have been waiting for years for their turn.
Iran stopped sending Umrah pilgrims to Saudi Arabia after two Iranian teenage boys were harassed in an airport in the Saudi city of Jeddah in March 2015.
Until then, Iran sent between 600,000 and 800,000 pilgrims to the kingdom for Umrah every year.
Now reports that Iran and Saudi Arabia have been holding talks to resolve their differences and resume diplomatic ties have risen hopes among those waiting to go on Umrah pilgrimage.
Last week, Iranian Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Saeed Khatibzadeh said the two sides continue to advance their negotiations with the focus on bilateral and regional issues.
Diplomatic relations between Tehran and Riyadh soured following the January 2016 execution of Shia cleric Sheikh Nimr al-Nimr, an outspoken critic of the Saudi monarchy, in Saudi Arabia.
Riyadh cut ties with Tehran afterwards, responding to attacks by angry protesters on its embassy in the Iranian capital.
Saudi Arabia’s military campaign against Yemen as well as the death of hundreds of Iranian Hajj pilgrims in a deadly crush in Saudi Arabia’s Mina in September 2015 had prepared the ground for the deterioration of tensions between the two regional powers.
