Iran's Haj and Pilgrimage Organisation said on Sunday the country's pilgrims would not attend the annual Muslim haj pilgrimage, blaming Saudi Arabia for "sabotage" and failing to guarantee the safety of pilgrims.

Relations between the two countries plummeted after hundreds of Iranians died in a crush during last year's haj and after Riyadh broke diplomatic ties when its Tehran embassy was stormed in January over the Saudi execution of a Shia cleric.
"Due to ongoing sabotage by the Saudi government, it is hereby announced that ... Iran's pilgrims have been denied the privilege to attend the haj this year, and responsibility for this rests with the government of Saudi Arabia," the Haj and Pilgrimage Organisation said in a statement carried by Iran state media.
Saudi media earlier said an Iranian delegation had left the kingdom without an agreement over the haj, the second time the two countries have failed to reach a deal.
Saudi Arabia has blamed Iran for the impasse.
"The issue of ensuring the safety of the pilgrims was very important for us, considering the past actions of the Saudi government last year and the martyrdom of many pilgrims from Iran and other countries," Iranian Culture Minister Ali Jannati told Iran state television.
Iran boycotted the haj for three years after 402 pilgrims, mostly Iranians, died in clashes with Saudi security forces at an anti-US and anti-Israel rally in Mecca in 1987.