Iran announces martyrdom of Iranian diplomats missing in Lebanon
The four Iranian diplomats had disappeared during "Israel’s" 1982 invasion of Lebanon.
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The four Iranian diplomats were kidnaped in Lebanon in 1982.
After 41 years, the four Iranian diplomats abducted in Lebanon during the Israeli invasion of 1982 were declared martyrs on Saturday by Major General Hossein Salami, the Commander-in-Chief of the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC).
Iran has long exerted efforts to determine the fate of the four abducted diplomats.
Salami referred to Ahmad Motavasselian as "the first Iranian martyr on the route to the liberation of Al-Quds" when he met with the families of the four martyrs.
"The martyrs are the ones who restored the country's peace and security," he added.
Siavash Falahpour, Al Mayadeen's analyst for Iranian affairs, argued that Major General Salami's announcement was "strategic", adding that it opened a new chapter in the conflict with "Israel".
Earlier, Iran’s foreign ministry denounced, in a statement on the 40th anniversary of their disappearance, “the lack of cooperation on the part of the international community and human rights organizations to determine the fate of the abductees.”
The ministry accused "Israel" of the disappearance, stressing that those responsible are “agents of the Zionist regime.”
A flashback
On July 4, 1982, the Lebanese Forces militia detained the three diplomats and a photographer from the official Iranian news agency IRNA at a checkpoint in northern Lebanon. They have not been seen since.
The abductees were Ahmad Motavasselian, the military attache of the Iranian embassy in Beirut, Mohsen Moussavi, the charge d’affaires, Taghi Rastegar-Moghadam, an embassy employee, and photojournalist Kazem Akhavan.
