DUBAI: Iran and Saudi Arabia sought to tone down a war of words over last week’s Haj disaster, with Riyadh offering condolences to its regional rival over what Tehran said on Thursday were 464 Iranians killed in the stampede near Makkah.

Saudi and Iranian media said the message of sympathy was delivered on Wednesday at a meeting between the two countries’ health ministers in the port city of Jeddah.

“The meeting was positive and the Saudi Minister announced the King’s condolences to the Supreme Leader, and the government and people of Iran,” Iranian Health Minister Hassan Ghazizadeh Hashemi was quoted as saying by state news agency IRNA.

Iran has been vocal in its criticism of Saudi Arabia for the Sept 24 disaster at the annual pilgrimage, with officials accusing the kingdom of lack of cooperation over identifying the victims and transferring their bodies back home.

Iranian officials have alleged the overall total death toll is more than 1,000. Saudi Arabia has confirmed the deaths of 769 people.

Iran’s supreme leader Ayatollah Khamenei warned on Wednesday of “the harshest reaction” should Iranians be disrespected.

Iran had said 239 of its citizens were killed in the crush in Mina, near the holy city of Makkah, and that 200 other pilgrims were missing, but on Thursday revised the death toll upwards.

“Seven days after the incident and after visiting hospitals (in Saudi Arabia)... we sadly announce that the number of Iranians who died is 464,” the country’s Haj Organisation said in a statement published on state TV website IRIB.

That makes it Iran’s deadliest disaster since more than 600 people were killed in an earthquake in 2005. It was the worst loss of life for quarter of a century at the annual pilgrimage, which draws some two million people.

Saudi daily Al-Riyadh said Health Minister Khalid al-Falih and his Iranian counterpart Hashemi had discussed the condition of wounded Iranian pilgrims and ways to repatriate the bodies of those who died.

Iranian Deputy Foreign Minister Hossein Amir Abdollahian said on Wednesday that Iran would not allow a single Iranian to be buried in Saudi Arabia.

“Al-Falih conveyed the condolences of the government of the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques, King Salman bin Abdulaziz, to the Iranian government and to the families of the victims, and asserted the wish of the kingdom’s government to cooperate with the government of the Islamic Republic of Iran,” Al-Riyadh said.

Published in Dawn October 2nd, 2015

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