Iran urges UN to pursue issue of diplomats abducted in Lebanon

Iran has renewed calls on the United Nations and relevant international bodies to pursue the case of four Iranian diplomats abducted in Lebanon more than three decades ago.

In a statement released on the 33rd anniversary of the abduction of the diplomats, the Iranian Foreign Ministry urged the UN, the Red Cross and other relevant international bodies to “fulfill their legal and humanitarian duty” to investigate the fate of the missing Iranian nationals.

The statement underlined the role of the Israeli regime and its agents in kidnapping the diplomats and transferring them to the occupied Palestinian territories.

The Tel Aviv regime “bears full legal and political responsibility” for the incident, the statement said.

The Iranian Foreign Ministry praised further efforts by the Lebanese government and certain relevant international bodies to follow up on the case, including a letter by Beirut to the UN secretary general confirming that the abduction took place in the Arab country’s territory.

It also repeated calls for the formation of an international fact-finding committee to shed light on the issue.

On July 4, 1982, four Iranian diplomats -- Ahmad Motevasselian, Seyyed Mohsen Mousavi, Taqi Rastegar Moqaddam and Kazem Akhavan -- were kidnapped by a group of Israeli-backed gunmen at an inspection post in northern Lebanon.

In September 2008, the Lebanese government sent a letter to UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon, in which Beirut confirmed the abduction of the Iranian diplomats in the Lebanese territory and called for UN action to pursue the case.

Israel has claimed that the Iranian diplomats were abducted by a Lebanese militant group and killed shortly after their abduction. The Lebanese resistance movement Hezbollah has, however, said that it has evidence that they are still alive and in Israeli captivity.