RELIGION

Iran accuses Saudi Arabia of killing injured pilgrims

Associated Press
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FILE - In this Sept. 24, 2015, file photo, a Muslim pilgrim walks through the site where dead bodies are gathered after a stampede during the annual hajj pilgrimage, in Mina, Saudi Arabia. The website of Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei quotes him on Monday, Sept. 5, 2016, accusing Saudi Arabia of causing the death of injured pilgrims in last year's hajj stampede saying, "The ruthless and criminal Saudi men locked half-alive injured people up along with the dead in tightly closed containers and martyred them." (AP Photo, File) (The Associated Press)

FILE - In this Wednesday, Sept. 23, 2015 file photo, hundreds of thousands of Muslim pilgrims pray outside Namira mosque in Arafat, on the second and most significant day of the annual hajj pilgrimage, near the holy city of Mecca, Saudi Arabia. The website of Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei quotes him on Monday, Sept. 5, 2016, accusing Saudi Arabia of causing the death of injured pilgrims in last year's hajj stampede saying, "The ruthless and criminal Saudi men locked half-alive injured people up along with the dead in tightly closed containers and martyred them." (AP Photo/Mosa'ab Elshamy, File) (The Associated Press)

FILE - In this Sept. 24, 2015, file photo, a Muslim pilgrim walks through the site where dead bodies are gathered after a stampede during the annual hajj pilgrimage, in Mina, Saudi Arabia. The website of Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei quotes him on Monday, Sept. 5, 2016, accusing Saudi Arabia of causing the death of injured pilgrims in last year's hajj stampede saying, "The ruthless and criminal Saudi men locked half-alive injured people up along with the dead in tightly closed containers and martyred them." (AP Photo, File) (The Associated Press)

Iran's top leader is accusing Saudi Arabia of causing the death of injured pilgrims in last year's hajj stampede.

The website of Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei quotes him on Monday as saying, "The ruthless and criminal Saudi men locked half-alive injured people up along with the dead in tightly closed containers and martyred them."

The September 2015 disaster became a lingering point of contention between the two Mideast rivals. The stampede killed at least 2,426 people, according to a count by The Associated Press. Tehran has said 464 of the dead were Iranian.

The deaths triggered months of lingering animosity between Iran and Saudi Arabia. The two countries severed diplomatic relations in January after Saudi Arabia executed a prominent Shiite cleric and angry Iranian crowds overran Saudi diplomatic missions.