He was 60 years old.
Dibble was a career Foreign Service officer was retired in 2006.
But last September, he was called back and became deputy assistant secretary of state for Iran, succeeding former hostage John Limbert when he retired from that post.
Dibble’s last major project was working on the release of the two hikers held in Iran. He coordinated all the work within the US government and with Oman and Switzerland. He died October 1, 10 days after the two men were freed.
Hundreds of State Department officials attended Dibble’s funeral, including Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. At the funeral, a letter from President Obama was read out saying that Dibble’s “leadership proved indispensable” in handling Iran issues.
It is not known who will replace him.
Dibble was to meet last week with the hikers when they visited Washington to thank people in the government who worked on their case. Instead, Dibble’s widow stood in for him.
Mrs. Dibble, like her husband, is also a deputy assistant secretary of state in the Near East division.
