Lebanon to pursue fate of Iranian diplomats

Hezbollah leader Seyyed Hassan Nasrallah says Lebanon will vigorously pursue the fate of four Iranian diplomats kidnapped in the country 27 years ago.

In a televised speech on Friday July 17, Nasrallah said that Lebanon felt committed to finding the kidnapped diplomats.

“The fate of kidnapped Iranian diplomats will be pursued not for the simple reason that they are Iranians but for the reason that they have been abducted from Lebanon and that there is in place a sense of obligation to the issue.”

The resistance leader made the comments in commemoration of the prisoner swap operation which led to the release of five Israeli-held Lebanese in exchange for the remains of two dead Israeli soldiers last year.

The Iranian diplomats, Ahmad Motevasselian, Seyyed Mohsen Mousavi, Taqi Rastegar-Moqaddam and Kazem Akhavan were abducted by Israeli-backed Phalangists in north Lebanon in July, 1982.

Speculations are that they were then handed over to the Israeli army that occupied the country at the time. Several officials in Tel Aviv have claimed that the four were murdered shortly after being abducted by their captors.

The Phalange is a branch of the Lebanese Forces Party, which is currently led by Samir Geagea - a politician aligned with the Western-backed March 14 Coalition.

In a May 18, 2006 interview with the al-Safir newspaper, Geagea claimed that the four diplomats were in fact abducted and killed at a checkpoint near the northern city of Byblos by the Lebanese Forces Party, another Israeli-backed armed group.

Having obtained information suggesting that the diplomats are still alive and in Israeli prisons, Iran has been pushing for their release after 27 years and has on several occasions appealed to the United Nations to pursue the fate of the diplomats.

The international body has, however, done little with regard to the issue.

(Source: Press TV)

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