Israeli officials have dismissed as "nonsense" Iranian claims that Tehran is in possession of evidence that four Iranian diplomats, who disappeared in Lebanon during the 1980s, are still alive and languishing in Israeli prisons. Iranian authorities announced this week that the mystery of four Iranian diplomats might be revealed soon. The three diplomats and a state-employed photographer were allegedly kidnapped by Christian militiamen in 1982. Earlier, the formerly pro-Israeli Lebanese Forces militia leaders who detained the four Iranians during the 1982 Israeli invasion of Beirut have said they were executed in Lebanon.
Israel is supposed to hand over information about the fate of the missing diplomats to the United Nations as part of a prisoner swap between with the Shiite group Hezbollah over the next few weeks. At a ceremony this week marking the 26th anniversary of the disappearance of the diplomats held in Beirut, the Iranian chargé d'affaires Mojtaba Ferdowsi-Pour accused Israelis of secretly holding the diplomats and called on the United Nations to help secure their release.
An Israeli government official was quoted in the 'Jerusalem Post' as saying: "This is not serious.... It is a fabricated claim. They did not disappear here, but in Lebanon. We have nothing to do with the matter."
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