By Xinhua,
BEIRUT : Iranian Ambassador to Lebanon Mohammad Reza Shibani has urged that his country wants to form a joint committee with Lebanon to look into the case of the four missing Iranian diplomats in Lebanon since 1982, As-Safir daily reported Wednesday.
Shibani made the call after meeting Lebanese Foreign Minister Fawzi Salloukh, saying “the Islamic republic is calling to form an Iranian-Lebanese committee to follow up the details and circumstances of the case.”
The four Iranian diplomats were said to be kidnapped by the Christian Lebanese Forces (LF) militia at a checkpoint in 1982 during the Israeli invasion of Lebanon.
The pro-Iran Lebanese group of Hezbollah says that the four were turned over by the LF to Israel, but Israel said in a report delivered to the party last August that the Iranians had been killed by the LF shortly after they were kidnapped.
Last week, Hezbollah chief Hasan Nasrallah urged the Lebanese government to be responsible for finding out the fate of the four missing Iranians.
The LF has the key to solve the mystery, Nasrallah said, adding “if they turned them over to Israel they should say, if they killed them they should deliver their bodies.”
LF leader Samir Geagea, however said that former LF leaders were in charge of the case, and no one has information about the case now.