Hawzah News Agency (Jeddah, Saudi Arabia) -The delegation met with the Saudi minister at the Pilgrimage Ministry in Jeddah for a second time on Friday. The two sides had held a first meeting in the Saudi port city on Thursday, February 23.

The meetings have been taking place within the framework of official talks between Mohammed Bentin, Saudi Minister, and the representatives of various Muslim countries to set the arrangements needed to enable the pilgrimage. The talks address such issues as the manner of the pilgrims’ reception on arrival in Saudi Arabia and their accommodation and transport around.

Iran has suspended Hajj pilgrimages by its nationals to Saudi Arabia because of serious security concerns.

In September 2015, a deadly human crush occurred during Hajj rituals in Mina, near the Saudi holy city of Mecca. Unofficial sources put the death toll from the crush at almost 7,000 people. Over 460 Iranians lost their lives in the incident, the highest fatality toll for a single country.

Saudi Arabia refused to take responsibility or even announce an overall death toll.

Earlier that same month, a massive construction crane had collapsed into Mecca’s Grand Mosque, killing more than 100 pilgrims, including 11 Iranians, and injuring over 200 others, including 32 nationals from Iran.

Questions were raised about whether Saudi authorities could prevent the repetition of such accidents and loss of life; and facing Saudi intransigence to cooperate and refusal to guarantee the safety of Iranian pilgrims, officials in the Islamic Republic subsequently decided to suspend pilgrimages over security concerns.