Continued Reactions to the Mina Incident; Possibility of 'Detention' of Some Pilgrims in Saudi Arabia

While the Iranian Minister of Intelligence has announced the ministry's mission to investigate whether the Mina incident was 'intentional or unintentional', the head of Iran's Basij Organization has described the incident as 'intentional' and identified the main root and cause as the United States. Meanwhile, Hassan Qashqavi, the Deputy Consular Minister of Foreign Affairs of Iran, has also raised the possibility that some Iranian pilgrims may have been detained during this incident. According to the Iranian Students' News Agency (ISNA), Mohammad Reza Naqdi, head of the Basij Organization, stated on Monday, October 5, 'When we hear the accounts of the pilgrims to the House of God, we are certain that the Mina incident was intentional and that the way has been blocked for the pilgrims to the House of God, whose main root and cause of this crime is America.' Mr. Naqdi also criticized the officials of Hassan Rouhani's government, emphasizing that after this incident, the officials in the Iranian government were 'wasting time with useless meetings in New York', and their handling of the incident resulted in Saudi Arabia not providing Iran with the statistics of the dead and injured. While Hassan Rouhani, the President of Iran, cut short his trip to New York after the Mina incident and returned to Iran, some members of parliament and conservative media criticized the failure of Mohammad Javad Zarif, the Foreign Minister, to return from New York. Mahmoud Alavi, the Iranian Minister of Intelligence, announced on Monday that 'the Ministry of Intelligence has been tasked with investigating whether this incident was intentional or unintentional and collecting its documentation.' The Saudi government has reported the number of fatalities in the Mina incident as 769 and the injured as 934. However, some officials of the Islamic Republic have reported the number of victims to be much higher, even up to four thousand. The highest number of pilgrims killed has been reported from Iran with 465, Egypt with 146, and Indonesia with 100. Iranian officials have repeatedly emphasized that the bodies of the deceased must be returned to Iran, and the status of all the injured and missing persons must be clarified. Among the missing is Ghazanfar Roknabadi, a former Iranian ambassador to Lebanon, whose possible abduction in Saudi Arabia and 'transfer' to Israel has been suggested by some conservative media. However, Hassan Qashqavi, the Deputy Consular Minister, stated that his evidence and personal observations from the scene do not confirm the possibility of abduction. According to Mehr News Agency, Mr. Qashqavi also pointed out that the missing persons may be among the deceased or injured present in Saudi hospitals and added that 'there is even a possibility that some pilgrims have been detained.' Previously, Ali Jannati, the Iranian Minister of Culture, had not ruled out the possibility of the detention of some missing Iranian pilgrims in this incident. In this context, DNA testing is being conducted to identify the deceased from the Mina incident, and the heads of the three branches of Iran attended the ceremony for the arrival of the bodies of dozens of victims. Jafari: The IRGC is ready for a swift and harsh response to Al Saud.