In its statement, Foreign Ministry of the Islamic Republic of Iran has commemorated the 43rd anniversary of the abduction of four Iranian diplomats Seyed Mohsen Mousavi, Ahmad Motevaselian, Kazem Akhavan, and Taghi Rastegar-Moghaddam by elements affiliated with the Israeli regime and expressed solidarity with their families.
As repeatedly stated, substantial evidence proves that the Iranian diplomats were kidnapped by an armed group inside Lebanon during the Israeli regime’s occupation of Lebanese territory, handed over to the occupying forces, and transferred to the occupied territories, it added.
The abduction of Iranian diplomats on July 5, 1982 in Beirut was not only a violation of international law and a blatant breach of the 1961 Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations but also constitutes a terrorist act under the International Convention Against the Taking of Hostages (1979), the statement reads.
The Islamic Republic of Iran holds the Israeli regime responsible for the abduction and hostage-taking of its nationals and continues to pursue the matter vigorously through relevant international bodies, it added.
While appreciating the cooperation of the Lebanese government in pursuing the issue, including formally registering the case through correspondence with the then-UN Secretary-General in September 2008, the Islamic Republic of Iran once again calls on the Lebanese authorities, the UN Secretary-General, the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), and other competent international bodies to fulfill their legal and humanitarian obligations in pursuing this case and exert all efforts to clarify the fate of the abducted Iranian diplomats, it noted.
Foreign Ministry has once again underlined the proposal to form a joint fact-finding committee between Iran and Lebanon, in cooperation with the ICRC, to investigate and clarify the status of the abducted Iranian diplomats.
The then charge d'affaires of the Iranian Embassy in Beirut Seyed Mohsen Mousavi, military attaché Ahmad Motevaselian, embassy technician Taqi Rastegar Moghadam and journalist of the Islamic republic news agency Kazzem Akhavan were kidnapped by the Lebanese mercenary army - also known as the Falangists - at gunpoint in Northern Lebanon in 1982 and were later handed over to the Israeli army.
Israel has released contradictory reports on the issue. The Israeli regime alleged in a statement in 2010 that the diplomats had never been surrendered to Israel.
IRNA