DHAKA: Iran President Hassan Rouhani has used a speech at the UN to call for an investigation into Thursday’s stampede at the annual hajj pilgrimage to Makkah.

The incident is the deadliest to hit the hajj in 25 years, with 769 people dead, more than 130 of them from Iran, reports the BBC.

Saudi Arabia’s foreign minister Adel al-Jubeir accused the Iranians of playing politics with a tragedy.

The country’s most senior cleric has defended the authorities, saying the stampede was ‘beyond human control’.

King Salman has ordered a safety review into the disaster.

Rouhani described the crush as ‘heart-rending’. As well as the fatalities, 934 people were injured.

But Jubeir, who is also in New York to attend the UN General Assembly, said, ‘I believe that the Iranians should know better than to play politics with a tragedy that has befallen people who were performing their most sacred religious duty’.

Iran’s outrage also has political motivations, as its battle with Saudi Arabia for regional influence sharpens week by week, correspondents say.

BDST: 1634 HRS, SEPT 27, 2015
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