The Muslim festival of Eid al-Adha, which marks the end of the hajj pilgrimage, has become another opportunity for regional rivals Iran and Saudi Arabia to continue their propaganda wars against one another.
Ayatollah Ahmad Khatami, a conservative cleric and interim Friday prayer leader, used Eid al-Adha to criticize Saudi Arabia over the Mina stampede during the 2015 hajj that killed over 2,000 people, including 472 Iranians. "When I was heading to prayers last year during Eid al-Adha, I was told about the tragedy at Mina,” Khatami recounted.