RNA - The Iranian senior security official made the remarks upon arriving at Ilam airport. Ilam Province is located in Western Iran bordering Iraq and the province is home to Mehran border checkpoint where around 60% of pilgrims from Iran, Azerbaijan, Pakistan, Afghanistan, India and Bangladesh go through to enter Iraq during the annual rituals of Arbaeen pilgrimage.
The visit is in a bid to make sure about the preparations and facilities devised for readying the main passage for the pilgrims of Iraqi holy shrines.
"Everything has been prepared to provide the security of pilgrims in Arbaeen rituals," underlined Rahmani Fazli adding that, "Big strides have been taken for improving the security conditions and to reinforce necessary infrastructures."
Rahmani Fazli asserted that providing a safe and calm trip for pilgrims is the duty of all officials.
Last year, over 20 million Muslims from across the world, including Iran, attended the 100-km rally from Iraqi city of Najaf to Karbala where the holy shrine of Imam Hossein (PBUH) is located.
Observers believe the rally is unique in terms of quality and also the number of its participants. It starts from the holy shrine of Imam Ali (PBUH) - the first Shiite Imam - and ends up in the holy shrine of Imam Hossein (PBUH).
According to Fars News Agancy, Imam Hossein (PBUH) was martyred in the 680 A.D. battle fought on the plains outside Karbala, a city in modern Iraq that's home to the Imam's holy shrine.
In the battle, Imam Hossein (PBUH) was decapitated and his body mutilated by Yazid's armies. All of Imam Hossein's male family members, relatives, friends, soldiers who all together formed a 72-member army were beheaded in an unequal war with a 30,000-strong army of the enemy in the desert of Karbala.
The occasion is the source of an enduring moral lesson for the Shiites.
Imam Hossein's martyrdom - recounted through a rich body of prose, poetry and song - remains an inspirational example of sacrifice to Shiites, who make up a majority of the Muslim population in Iran, Pakistan, Iraq and Bahrain.
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