TEHRAN Iranian Embassy in Manila on Wednesday strongly dismissed as baseless the allegations made by the press in Manila about the involvement of an Iranian national in kidnapping in Dos Palmas on May 27.

The Iranian national said the embassy in a press release is a well-known businessman with a good personal background, married to a Filipino and has stayed in the Philippines for more than 24 years.

Press reports said that an Iranian national, Baneral Naghsh Mansour had rented a boat and went around the Dos Palmas resort twice as if to survey the area a day before Abu Sayyaf guerrillas snatched 20 captives, including three Americans, from the Palawan resort and took them to the southern Island of Basilan on May 27.

The embassy believes that these allegations are absolutely baseless and without any substantial evidences linking him to the case, the press release said.

These reports are conceived to be irresponsible and unprofessional and could ruin the reputation of an individual, it said.

Considering the desire of the Islamic Republic of Iran and the Republic of the Philippines to uphold and strengthen their existing cordial relations, the embassy hopes that relevant authorities responsible for declaring these unfounded reports to media will compensate for their baseless remarks and announce their apologies in an appropriate manner," the embassy said.