By Micah Halpern
I've Been Thinking:
Over the past two days Iran has released some damning public critique against Saudi Arabia.
It might appear as if this is standard stuff, part of the on-going Shiite/Sunni - rift but it is much more than that. And the vitriol is far more biting.
On Wednesday September 7th, on the official Islamic Republic News Agency (IRNA), Iranian President Hassan Rouhani publicly said that Saudi Arabia should be held accountable for the deaths of last year's pilgrims during the Hajj, the annual pilgrimage to Mecca.
Last year 2,426 people were trampled to death in Mecca. The tragedy was allowed to happen because of poor planning. 2,426 is an official number of deaths, but there are estimates that place the number at two times that.
464 of the dead pilgrims were Iranian.
Iran says that other Islamic states should punish Saudi Arabia. Rouhani is quoted as saying: "regional countries and the Islamic world should take coordinated measures to punish the government of Saudi Arabia in order to have a real Hajj."
This is just one example of the vitriol.
For their part, Saudi Arabia declared that Iranian Shiites are not Muslims. Saudi Arabia's grand mufti Sheik Abdul Aziz al Sheik, the most notable cleric in Saudi Arabia, said that Shiite Islam is not Islam and that Iranians are not believers in the basic tenets of Islam.
He called them Majuws. The Majuws were pagan fire worshippers and Zoroastrians.
He said: "We must understand they are not Muslims, for they are the descendants of Majuws, and their enmity toward Muslims, especially the Sunnis, is very old."
Iran and Saudi Arabia will continue to trade shots at one another. But they are taking it up a notch.
The situation is intensifying.
Micah@MicahHalpern.com
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