First Group of Iranian Pilgrims to Attend Umrah Later This Month after 9 Years
The head of Iran’s Hajj and Pilgrimage Organization said the first batch of pilgrims will leave for Saudi Arabia on December 19.
Speaking at a press conference on Tuesday, Seyed Abbas Hosseini said those who did the initial registration for the pilgrimage back in 2008 can complete the registration process to take part in the pilgrimage.
The first group of pilgrims will depart for Saudi Arabia from Tehran’s Imam Khomeini International Airport and later Umrah flights will also be operated from airports in other cities like Mashhad, Tabriz, Isfahan, Yazd, Kerman, Ahvaz, Shiraz, Sari and Zahedan, he noted.
The dispatch of Umrah pilgrims will continue until February 29, ahead of the holy month of Ramadan, he added.
According to the official, a total of 70,000 Iranian pilgrims in 550 batches will take part in Umrah during this period.
They will stay in Saudi Arabia for ten days, including five days in Mecca and five days in Medina, Hosseini stated.
Noting that 5.7 million Iranians are in line waiting for their turn to take part in Umrah pilgrimage, he added that the organization is ready to send between 800,000 and 1 million pilgrims to Saudi Arabia for Umrah every year if the conditions are right and other related bodies provide the necessary cooperation.
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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.
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.
That came nearly a year before the two countries cut their diplomatic relations.
Iran and Saudi Arabia re-established diplomatic ties in March 2023 through a China-mediated agreement, marking a significant development after severing relations in 2016.
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