Iran’s president to cut short New York visit

Iranian President Hassan Rouhani will cut short his visit to New York and return home to attend the funeral of the Iranian victims of the recent crush in Saudi Arabia.

The president, who is in New York to take part in the 70th Session of the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA), is to leave for the Iranian capital, Tehran, on Monday, said Parviz Esmaili, the president’s deputy chief of staff.

President Rouhani will deliver a speech at the UNGA before returning home.

The latest figures released by Iran’s Hajj and Pilgrimage Organization suggest that at least 169 Iranian pilgrims lost their lives in the crush during the Hajj rituals in Mina near the Saudi city of Mecca on September 24. Forty-six Iranians are currently hospitalized and 298 others are still unaccounted for, according to head of the organization Sa’eed Ohadi.

The Saudi Health Ministry puts the total death toll from the incident at nearly 770. However, Iran’s Hajj and Pilgrimage Organization says some 2,000 pilgrims lost their lives in the tragedy.

The first batch of the bodies of the Iranian pilgrims who lost their lives in the Mina crush is to be transferred to Iran on Tuesday, said Esmaili.

“Therefore, the [Iranian] president, having canceled a number of his programs and planned meetings at the United Nations, will leave New York Monday afternoon [local time],” said the president’s deputy chief of staff.

Since the moment he arrived in New York, President Rouhani has been following up on the fate of the Iranian victims of the Mina tragedy and ordered several Iranian government institutions to set up a joint task force to bring back the bodies of the deceased and offer medical treatment to the wounded, said Esmaili.

Meanwhile, President Rouhani held separate meetings with a number of world leaders in New York on Sunday.

The Iranian president told his Ecuadorian counterpart Rafael Correa that Tehran stands ready to forge closer cooperation with Quito on different fronts.

President Rouhani touched upon the opportunity created following the agreement between Iran and the P5+1 over the Islamic Republic’s nuclear program, and underlined that proper planning is required to tap into the existing potential for cooperation between Tehran and Quito.

“The new atmosphere after the nuclear agreement and the lifting of the sanctions against Iran will create an ideal opportunity, which we need to plan to properly make use of,” said the president.

On July 14, Iran and the P5+1 countries – the United States, Britain, France, China, Russia and Germany – finalized the text of a nuclear agreement dubbed the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) in the Austrian capital, Vienna.

Under the JCPOA, limits will be put on Iran’s nuclear activities in exchange for, among other things, the removal of all economic and financial bans against the Islamic Republic.

President Rouhani also sat down with his Bolivian counterpart Evo Morales. During the meeting, the Iranian chief executive described the relations between the two countries as cordial.

Latin American states, particularly Bolivia, are of special significance to Tehran, said President Rouhani, adding, “We should make efforts to boost and strengthen all-out relations.”

He further said Tehran’s success in the negotiations that led to the JCPOA amounts to a victory for “all of Iran’s friends in the world.”

In another meeting, President Rouhani told his Senegalese counterpart Macky Sall that Tehran embraces the closer ties with African countries, saying, “We welcome the promotion of relations with Dakar in all areas.”

Iran and Senegal enjoy numerous potentialities for the expansion of mutual cooperation, which should be tapped into in a bid to serve the interests of both nations, Rouhani noted.

The Iranian president also touched upon the scourge of terrorism in the Middle East and its devastating consequences, saying, “We should all stand up to terrorism in unity.”

The Iranian president also met with Afghan President Abdullah Abdullah.

In the meeting, Rouhani said Iran has always stood by the Afghan government and people, and regards the security and development of neighboring countries, including those of Afghanistan, as its own.

President Rouhani then stressed that Kabul should step up its fight against narcotics.

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