Iran calls for joint committee to probe into fate of diplomats

Beirut, Feb 4, IRNA - Foreign Minister of Iran Manouchehr Mottaki called on Lebanese
officials on Tuesday to form a joint committee to probe into the fate
of four Iranian diplomats kidnapped in that country in 1982.

Mottaki's call was made in a message to his Lebanese counterpart Fawzi
Sallukh. The message was handed over to Sallukh by Iran?s Ambassador
in Beirut Mohammad-Reza Sheibani.

the Iranian minister called for the formation of an Iranian-Lebanese
committee to investigate the fate of the then-charges d'affaires
Sayyid Mohsen Mousavvi and his accompanies Ahmad Motevaselian, Taghi
Rastegar-Moghadam and the Islamic Republic News Agency?s photographer
Kazem Akhavan.

The four were captured in July 1982 by Christian Lebanese Forces
militia (Phalangists) on a coastal road in northern Lebanon.

It is widely believed the men are being held by the Zionist regime.

In an agreement reached between the Lebanese Hizbullah and the Zionist
regime on prisoner swap, the Zionist officials accepted to provide the
Islamic Resistance with a report on the fate of four Iranian diplomats.

They (Zionist officials) said that the Lebanese Forces Party was
responsible for the abduction.

Meanwhile, commenting on the issue, Secretary-General of Hizbullah
Hassan Nasrullah said last Thursday there were reports indicating that
the four Iranians were being kept in the Zionist regime?s prisons.

While the Lebanese Forces Party is responsible for the abduction,
Nasrullah asked the party to act more responsibly to determine the
fate of the Iranian citizens.

The Hizbullah chief also asked the Lebanese government to take
necessary legal actions to this end as one of its cabinet ministers,
Minister of Justice Ibrahim Najjar, is a member of the Lebanese Forces
Party.

End