Iran expects medical tests to establish within 48 hours if a high-ranking diplomat died on pilgrimage in the stampede at the hajj in Saudi Arabia, following contrasting accounts about his demise. Ghazanfar Roknabadi, 49, a former ambassador to Lebanon, was initially reported as being among 464 Iranian pilgrims killed in the hajj's worst-ever tragedy in September.
Iran finally confirmed Thursday that Roknabadi's corpse had been identified in Saudi Arabia. His body arrived back in Tehran on Friday with his coffin draped in the Iranian flag for a funeral ceremony. Lebanon is home to the Iranian-backed Shia movement Hezbollah, allied with President Bashar al-Assad in the Syrian civil war, who Riyadh has repeatedly urged to stand down. Roknabadi's body was identified by DNA in Saudi Arabia but secondary testing will be used to determine if he died in the stampede, the ISNA news agency quoted his brother as saying.