A senior member of the Iranian parliament disclosed on Tuesday that Israel has relayed a message to Hezbollah declaring that it would cooperate with the Lebanese resistance movement on the issue of the Iranian diplomats who were abducted in Northern Lebanon in 1982 in the format of a deal. "Hezbollah has prisoners of war (PoWs) with European nationalities who have been fighting (for the terrorist groups) in Aleppo battles and on the same basis we suppose that the Zionists have opened up for negotiations and sent the message that they are ready to make a deal and negotiate with Hezbollah in this regard," Javad Karimi Qoddousi, a member of the parliament's National Security and Foreign Policy Commission, told FNA on Tuesday. 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. The MP pointed to the conditions of General Motevaselian and other abducted diplomats, and said, "The enemy is trying to work out a big deal over this big trophy that it has taken from us." Karimi Qoddousi claimed that Hezbollah Chief Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah has vowed to follow up General Motevaselian's case himself. In relevant remarks on Monday, Iranian Ambassador to Beirut Mohammad Fathali underlined that Tel Aviv is still keeping the four diplomats who had been abducted by Phalange forces in Northern Lebanon in 1982 in jail. "Many existing evidence and reasons show that these diplomats have been abducted by the Zionist regime's mercenaries and have been transferred to the occupied Palestinian territories," al-Ahd news agency quoted Fathali as saying. He said that the Iranian government urges UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, the Red Cross and other human rights bodies to act upon their responsibilities in this regard and pressure Israel to extradite them to Iran. In relevant remarks on Sunday, son of former Iranian charge d'affaires in Beirut Seyed Mohsen Moussavi, one of the kidnapped diplomats, underlined that evidence and documents indicate that the four diplomats abducted in Lebanon are still alive and imprisoned in Israel. "We could attain some information showing that Ahmad Motevaselian and his accompanying team are still alive," Moussavi's son said. "During the time, different reports have come from the Iranian diplomats and we conclude that they are alive and being kept in Israeli prisons," he added. Moussavi's son stressed that legal works are underway in Lebanon to pursue fate of the four diplomats. Also, in May, Iranian Defense Minister Brigadier General Hossein Dehqan said that Iran is in possession of corroborative evidence proving that its four diplomats are still alive and imprisoned by Israel. "We claim on the basis of proofs that they are alive and captivated by the Zionist regime," General Dehqan said. He underlined that the Israelis are responsible for the health of the Iranian diplomats, adding that Tehran will also pursue their fate legally and politically. 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. In January 2009, the then Iranian foreign ministry spokesman said that Iran had received a report from the Zionist regime which said the kidnapped Iranian diplomats had not been transferred to Tel Aviv and laid the blame on the Lebanese mercenary army affiliated with Israel. In reaction to the report, the spokesman said at the time that the report "will not relieve the Zionist regime of its responsibility" for the healthiness and safe repatriation of the diplomats.
