TEHRAN, Iran — “What approach should the government take in dealing with Saudi Arabia?” respondents were asked in an opinion poll carried out by one of Iran’s most popular news sites. The survey followed the recent stampede in Saudi Arabia in which hundreds of Iranian hajj pilgrims were killed. The responses to the poll are thought provoking: “No Iranian should go to Mecca for the next 1,000 years,” “Ending political relations is the only solution,” “If we boycott the hajj for once, the Arabs will understand how to treat Persians.” These are but some of the softer criticisms. An anti-Arab backlash has only intensified following the disastrous death toll in this year’s hajj pilgrimage.

At the same time, tensions between Iran and Saudi Arabia are nothing new. Both nations have for a long time harbored unfriendly views of each other. Only last year, following the drastic fall in global oil prices, Iranian authorities blamed Saudi Arabia. These kinds of tensions oftentimes trickle down. For instance, in this year’s Asian Football Confederation Champions League, controversy erupted over a soccer game between Iran’s Persepolis and Saudi Arabia’s Al-Nassr. Iranian forward Mehdi Taremi scored the only goal of the game, and after doing so, made a gesture with his hand indicating that he had cut off the rival team’s head. This ignited a great deal of controversy between both Iranian and Saudi media outlets. The incident was soon followed by ordinary Arabs making comments against Iranian players on social media and attacking Taremi’s Instagram page.

The sexual assault of two Iranian youths upon returning from the umrah — the off-season hajj — at Jeddah airport this past spring is another example of a lightning rod for anti-Arab sentiment among Iranians. That incident resulted in a huge wave of criticism and negative views toward Riyadh, which was reflected on social media. Following that incident, Iran officially announced that it would suspend hajj pilgrimages until further notice, a move that was met with a generally positive response by Iranians in cyberspace.

Now, several months later and with the peculiar and sad incidents surrounding this year’s hajj, such as the crane collapse at Mecca’s Grand Mosque and hundreds of Iranian pilgrims being crushed to death in a stampede while performing the "stoning the devil" ritual at Mina, the Iranian public is outraged more than ever. The comments that can be read under one article on the latter contain more harsh criticism of Saudi Arabia than usual. Iranian reader “Farid” wrote, “May God damn the Al Saud. … The management of the hajj should be transferred to a consortium of all Islamic countries. In one word, these hooligans are not worthy of hosting God’s pilgrims.” Another Iranian comment reads: “Ten million people gather in Karbala during the Ashura ceremonies every year, and there’s not even a bloody nose. But the Al Saud can’t manage a lower population of pilgrims.”