Iran rejects media claims on its diplomat missing in Saudi Arabia

Iran’s foreign ministry spokeswoman, Marzieh Afkham has rejected some media reports about a visit of the former Iranian Ambassador to Lebanon Ghazanfar Roknabadi to Saudi Arabia under a fake name.

She said that the Iranian diplomat, who is still missing following the crush in Saudi Arabia’s Mecca on Sept. 24, had entered Saudi Arabia with a regular passport Iran ’s official IRNA news agency reported Sept. 28.

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.

Meanwhile Afkham said the report is false, “such hasty and wrong remarks follow specific purposes”.

The Iranian spokeswoman further said that while precise passport information of all Iranian pilgrims’ including Roknabadi is in possession of Saudi officials there is no doubt about his entry details into Saudi Arabian territory.

Roknabadi is feared to have died in the stampede during the Hajj last week that killed hundreds. The Iranian diplomat, who served as the Islamic Republic’s ambassador in Beirut from 2010 to 2014, has been declared missing and is believed to have been at the pilgrimage to Mecca.

The latest report says 169 Iranian pilgrims have lost their lives in the incident in Mecca.

Iran’s Hajj and Pilgrimage Organization chief Saeed Ohadi said 46 Iranian pilgrims have been wounded in the incident and 298 others are still missing.

/By Trend/