I also do want to underscore that this is specifically to own Muslims from the Western world--not Muslims from Saudi Arabia's traditional enemies/rivals like Iran or Turkey or those of the Gulf states that hate it now. These are the people we're supposed to believe are better "allies" to the West than a hypothetical opening to Iran would get us. A reasonable argument can be made that trying to maneuver Iran into the diplomatic position that Saudi Arabia is in now would be more trouble than it's worth, but please let's not pretend the Saudis like or respect us. They don't.
Nobody hates the Sauds more than I do, but while I don't know anything about this story than the link you've posted here (my mom has been in Bangladesh, but I'll talk to her when I see her next, since she'll have some thoughts), but my immediate reading is definitely not yours. The process of going on hajj is already quite unusual compared to other firms of travel, since travel has to be booked through a hajj-certified agency.
The most obvious explanation to me is that the government is now using covid-related disruption as an opportunity to permanently cut out the middlemen. It's not plausible to me that this is designed to spite the West, in part because this serves no obvious political goals but mostly because the state's religious legitimacy in the Islamic world depends entirely on its ability to guarantee access to the hajj. It cannot possibly be overstated how important this is.
Just wondering, what's the price of a typical Hajj travel package through one of these? I know it's well beyond the economic means of the vast majority of Muslims, but is it affordable for a typical middle class American family?
