Saudi Rejects Iran's Request to Allow Pilgrims to Vote in Election

An Iranian cleric casts his vote during parliamentary elections at a polling station in Tehran, Iran, March 1, 2024.
An Iranian cleric casts his vote during parliamentary elections at a polling station in Tehran, Iran, March 1, 2024.

Iran says the Saudi government has rejected Tehran’s request to run remote ballots for Friday's presidential polls from the roughly 47,000 Iranian pilgrims currently in Mecca and Medina.

It comes as at least two thirds of Iran has already decided to boycott the sham elections and the government is desperate to rack up participation.

Interior Minister Ahmad Vahidi, speaking on the sidelines of a Cabinet meeting on Wednesday, stated that there are around 344 polling stations abroad, including over 30 in the US.

He admitted, “We have a problem in Saudi Arabia. A significant number of our pilgrims are in this country, in Mecca and Medina, but Saudi Arabia has not yet accepted that elections be held in this country, and we hope this issue will be resolved.”

Saudi authorities have yet to comment on the matter.

The rejection underscores the continuing tensions between the two nations in spite of a detente reached last year in which diplomatic ties remain sluggish.

Saudi Arabia severed ties with Iran in 2016 after its embassy in Tehran was stormed during a dispute over Riyadh's execution of a Shiite Muslim cleric.

The relationship has been further strained by conflicts, including missile and drone attacks on Saudi oil facilities and tankers in the Persian Gulf by Iran's Houthi militia amid a nearly decade-long war.