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.