Iran to sue Saudi Arabia over deaths of Iranian pilgrims

Tehran: Iran will file a complaint against Saudi Arabia for its "shortcomings" which led to the death of Iranian pilgrims during the Haj pilgrimage in the Arab state, Iran's government spokesman Mohammad Baqer Nobakht said here on Tuesday.

Iran will sue the Saudi government via legal actions and the mechanisms in the international arena, said Nobakht, also the vice president, according to Tasnim news agency.

Iran will spare no efforts to defend the rights of the Iranian pilgrims, the missing ones and those injured in the disaster, he added, Xinhua news agency reported.

On Tuesday, Iranian President Hassan Rouhani lashed out at Saudi Arabia's "inefficiency" as the cause of the Haj stampede, which claimed the lives of at least 239 Iranian pilgrims and injured 28 others.

In the incident, over 200 other Iranian pilgrims are also missing, according to official IRNA news agency.

According to Saudi officials, over 760 Muslim pilgrims have died during the stampede at the annual Haj pilgrimage in Mina near Makkah on Thursday.

The Saudi interior ministry said the crush appears to have been caused by two waves of pilgrims meeting at an intersection.