Shafaq News/ Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said Sunday that the “tragedies” unfolding in Gaza and the “pressure” bearing down on Yemen would not have happened “if the Islamic world had stood united.”

Speaking during a meeting with officials from Iran’s Pilgrimage (Hajj) Organization, Khamenei emphasized that “there is no interest more important for the Islamic nation than its unity.”

Khamenei described the Hajj as “perhaps the only religious obligation that, in its outward appearance and structure, is entirely political,” adding that the gathering of Muslims from different countries at the same time and place "carries political significance.”

He concluded that Hajj, “contrary to what some promote or cast doubt on, is a religious duty with a political essence, form, and structure.”

Iran’s annual “Disavowal of the Polytheists” procession, held by Iranian pilgrims during Hajj, has frequently drawn objections from Saudi Arabia, which, along with other critics, accuses Tehran of “politicizing the pilgrimage.”

Last year, Khamenei declared that “this year’s Hajj is a Hajj of Disavowal; disavowal of the bloodthirsty face emerging from Western civilization, which has committed crimes in Gaza.”