Iran says death toll of nationals in haj crush rises to 464

Asked by reporters on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly, Saudi Foreign Minister Adel bin Ahmed Al-Jubeir said that the Iranians “should not politically exploit a tragedy”, SPA reported Sunday.

The outcomes of the investigation will be submitted to King Salman who will then accordingly take appropriate measures, according to media reports in Saudi Arabia.

Preparations for the Hajj were marred when a crane collapsed at Mecca’s Grand Mosque this month, killing 109 people.

Jazayeri said it’s the duty of Muslim states to undertake fact-finding missions “to decode these crimes by Al-Saud”.

More than 64,000 of this year’s two million pilgrims who attended the hajj were from Iran, according to the government.

The two regional rivals were already at odds over Iran’s support for Houthi rebels in Yemen, which lies on the other side of Saudi Arabia’s southern border.

“Seven days after this tragic accident… the status of all (pilgrims) injured has been completely cleared and reported”, Iran’s Hajj organisation said in a statement on Thursday carried by state television.

But a week after the tragedy, hundreds of Iranian pilgrims had remained unaccounted for, leading to speculation about their fate.

Iran’s foreign ministry spokeswoman said that among the missing was Ghazanfar Roknabadi, 49, the country’s former ambassador to Lebanon, a highly sensitive post.

Saudi civil defense directorate on its official Twitter account released photos showing rescue workers in orange and yellow vests helping the wounded onto stretchers and loading them onto ambulances near a few of the white tents.

On Wednesday, Tehran summoned the Saudi envoy to demand the swift identification and repatriation of the bodies of Iranian pilgrims killed in last week’s stampede.

“With each passing day, their anxiety worsens”, she said, urging Saudi Arabia to institute a mechanism to locate the missing pilgrims.

Hashmi visited Jeddah following a dirty propaganda war unleashed by Iran after the stampede in Mina which killed more than 770 hajis.

While Iranian sources confirmed the handshake, which took place beyond the view of cameras, they claimed that the encounter between Zarif and Obama had been “incidental”, occurring as the Iranian delegation was leaving the United Nations hall.

Iran has topped the list of fatalities, reporting 239 as of Wednesday.