Case of abducted diplomats remains open

Spokesman of the Iranian Foreign Ministry, Bahram Qasemi says the case of the four Iranian diplomats who were abducted at the hands of Israel-affiliated gunmen in 1982 remains open.

Qasemi was answering a question by the Qods News Agency.

The then charge d'affaires of the Iranian Embassy in Beirut Seyed Mohsen Mousavi, military attaché Ahmad Motevaselian, embassy technician Taghi 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 Israeli army.

Israel has released contradictory reports on the issue. The Zionist regime alleged in a statement last year that the diplomats had never been surrendered to Israel. Elsewhere it claimed in response to a request put forward by the Lebanese Hezbollah group that the four are already dead.