Iran has suspended the Umrah Hajj pilgrimage following the mistreatment of Persian teenagers by Saudi security personnel at Jeddah airport. The Iranian government has clearly expressed its misgivings concerning the treatment of Iranians by Saudi authorities, and it has asked the Saudi government to prosecute the Saudi officers who sexually assaulted the teenagers. Iranian officials have also urged the Saudis to give the implicated Saudi officials the maximum penalty possible. The Umrah hajj pilgrimage is considered a minor hajj that Muslims make to make; and as such it not included in the five pillars of Islam thus making it an optional hajj that can be made on any time.
Iran is a predominantly Shia nation; and it has been at loggerheads with its Sunni Arab neighbors especially after the Iranian Supreme Leader implored the Iranian state to export the Islamic revolution across the world. Saudi Arabia has repeatedly accused Iran of sponsoring Shiite insurrections in its Eastern homelands where most of the oil wells are located. Israel has also accused Iran of sponsoring terrorist organizations including the Gaza-based Sunni jihadi terror organizations; Hamas and the Islamic Jihad. In Yemen, Iran and Saudi Arabia are fighting a proxy battle over who will exercise political dominance over the Red Sea Arab nation.
