1982 Iranian diplomats kidnapping

Background

During the Israeli invasion of Lebanon, Ahmad Motevaselian, a military attaché for Iran's embassy in Beirut; Seyed Mohsen Mousavi, chargé d'affaires at the embassy; and Taghi Rastegar Moghadam, an embassy employee, were sent on diplomatic mission to Lebanon along with Kazem Akhavan, an IRNA photojournalist covering the events in Lebanon. They were sent from Iran's embassy in Damascus. According to US and Israeli sources Motevaselian was in command of the IRGC expeditionary force supporting Shia militias like Hezbollah in Southern Lebanon and the Bekaa Valley to fight against the Israeli invasion.

Ahmad Motevaselian was the most well-known of the abductees because of his service in the Iran-Iraq war. The 27th Mohammad Rasoul-Allah Brigade, under his command, played an important role in Liberation of Khorramshahr, a "turning point" in the war. Indeed, he had been chosen to lead the Iranian expeditionary force in Lebanon because of his success in crushing the 1979 Kurdish rebellion in Iran.

Kidnapping

The diplomats disappeared in Lebanon during the invasion of Lebanon in 1982. After reaching the al-Barbareh checkpoint in northern Lebanon, Lebanese Phalange forces headed by Samir Geagea stopped the diplomats.

The abducted individuals were reportedly imprisoned under the supervision of Elie Hobeika, a then Phalangist, in Karantina for 20 days and were moved to the prison of Adonis.

Israeli detention speculation

In the aftermath of the incident, Iran accused Israel of kidnapping and holding the diplomats in their jails, and called on the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) to clarify their whereabouts. According to Ghazanfar Roknabadi, former Iranian ambassador in Lebanon, "there are concrete evidences proving that they are alive", held in Israel. The claim was repeated years later by Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah, the leader of Lebanon's Hezbollah resistance movement, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, Iran's ex-president, and Iran's Defense Minister Brig. Gen. Hossein Dehghan.

In 1997 the Prisoners' Friends Association, "an Israel-based prisoners' aid organization", said that a released prisoner had seen the four "disappeared" Iranians in Atlit Prison in Israel two years previously, the claim which was denied by "a spokesman for the Israeli Prime Minister." Israel has said it does not know what happened to the diplomats and that it believes that they were kidnapped by a Lebanese militant group and executed shortly after their abduction. It was believed that they were then buried at a site where construction later obliterated their graves. According to the Fars News Agency, Israel has made contradictory comments on the issue by rejecting the allegation of diplomats being surrendered to it, and claiming that they are already dead.

Later in 2016, according to a report by the London-based Rai al-Youm, translated to English by Fars News Agency, a recently released Greek prisoner from Israeli jails informed the Iranian embassy in Athens that he had seen the four abducted individuals alive in Israeli jails. The report also said that Ahmad Habibollah Abu Hesham, known as a "spiritual father" of prisoners of Israeli jails, had made a similar comment that Motavesellian and the others were alive in Atlit detainee camp after visiting and inspecting prisoners in Israeli jails. He died in what Rai al-Youm claimed was a "made up accident by Israel."

Possible death

In an interview with the London-based Al-Wasat magazine published on 31 August 1997, Elie Hobeika verified the abduction of the diplomats and their handing over to Israel by Geagea's group known for its close ties with Israel and for handing over many Lebanese and foreigners to Israel during its invasion of Lebanon. Later, Geagea said the Iranians died sometime after their capture. Ali Qusair, Press TV journalist and Sayyed Raed Mousavi, son of the kidnapped Sayyed Mohsen Mousavi, had an interview with Karim Pakradouni, former head of phalangists. Referring to his conversation with Assaad Chaftari, a senior intelligence official of Lebanese Forces, Pakradouni believed that the abducted diplomats could have been killed before reaching Karantina. Hobeika's security chief in the early 1980s, Robert Hatem, who was code-named "Cobra," accused Hobeika of "kidnapping and murder[ing] four Iranian diplomats in 1982," in his published biography of Hobeika.

Political response

In 2016, Adnan Mansour, minister of foreign affairs and emigrants, in an interview with IRNA stated that Iran had not stopped investigating the fate of the diplomats. He stated that the Lebanese government was responsible in the first step, because the abduction had occurred in Lebanese territory. Nazih Mansour, former member of the Lebanese parliament, had been the official lawyer of one of the families. Speaking to IRNA, he said that the progress of the case in Lebanese courts was very slow. Mansour also said that after so many years, the case had turned into a political issue rather than a judicial one.

In a statement, Iran expressed appreciation for efforts by the Lebanese government and international figures, including a 2008 letter from Lebanon to UN confirming the abduction, to bring international attention to this case. Mohammad Fathali, Iranian Ambassador to Beirut, said that Iran has seen no serious action by "the international community and human rights bodies" regarding abduction of the Iranian diplomats in Lebanon and their fate.

Hezbollah had included the fate of the diplomats in indirect negotiations for a prisoner exchange with the Israelis after the 2006 war and as terms of the deal, Israel agreed to give a report on the fate of the four Iranians kidnapped and allegedly murdered.

Commemoration

The disappearance of the abducted diplomats is commemorated in Iran and Beirut.