Baku, Azerbaijan, Oct. 5
By Umid Niayesh - Trend:
The Islamic Republic is seriously following the fate of its senior diplomat, Ghazanfar Roknabadi, who is still missing following the deadly stampede in Saudi Arabia 's Mecca on Sept. 24, Iran 's Deputy Foreign Minister for Consular Affairs Hassan Qashqavi said.
Roknabadi was a well-known figure in the region and foreign ministry is seriously pursuing the case, Qashqavi said, the Iranian parliament's official ICANA news agency reported Oct. 5.
Qashqavi further touched upon the claims about the possibility of kidnapping of the diplomat and transferring him to Israeli, saying it is only speculation. "We cannot definitely reject or confirm the claims," he underlined.
The local situation where the incident occurred as well as the statements of people who were with Roknabadi before he went missing eliminates the kidnapping possibility, Qashqavi added.
Maybe the Iranian pilgrims who are still missing are among those who where killed in the incident or unidentified injured people Saudi hospitals, he said, adding it is even likely that some pilgrims are under arrest in Saudi Arabia.
Roknabadi, 49, who was attending the annual Muslim gathering, is still missing after the stampede, which killed at least 460 of the Islamic republic's citizens.
Until last year, Roknabadi was Tehran 's envoy to Beirut, a highly sensitive post. Lebanon is home to the Iran-backed Shiite movement Hezbollah, which is allied with President Bashar al-Assad in the Syrian civil war and is also a bitter enemy of Israel.
Iran rejected some media reports about the visit of the senior diplomat to Saudi Arabia under a fake name.
The Saudi Alarabiya TV quoted Saudi sources as saying the official records show that the name of the former Iranian ambassador to Beirut does not appear among this year's pilgrims.
If his presence during the pilgrimage is confirmed, that would mean that he has entered the country in an "unknown manner," possibly registering with a different name and description, according to the sources.
Edited by CN
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