TEHRAN – A presidential advisor has called for the establishment of a joint Iranian-Lebanese committee to determine the fate of four Iranian nationals who were kidnapped in Lebanon in 1982.

Maryam Mojtahedzadeh made the proposal during a meeting with Lebanese President Michel Suleiman on Wednesday.
Four Iranian nationals, chargé d’affaires Mohsen Mousavi, military attaché of the Embassy of the Islamic Republic of Iran Ahmad Motevasellian, Taqi Rastegar Moqaddam, a diplomat from the embassy, and Kazem Akhavan, a reporter and photographer from the Islamic Republic News Agency (IRNA), were captured by a Phalangist militia while traveling to southern Lebanon in 1982, then handed over to the Zionist regime and transferred to a prison in occupied Palestine.
Michel Suleiman also said he feels a moral duty to pursue the case of abducted Iranian diplomats and promised to take appropriate measures in this regard.
On Iran-Lebanon ties, Suleiman said that Tehran and Beirut enjoy favorable relations.