May 25, 2016

Iran's Defense Minister Brig. Gen. Hossein Dehghan surprised many Iranians when he said that the four Iranians kidnapped in Lebanon in 1982 were still alive and being held in an Israeli prison.

Ahmad Motevaselian, military attache for Iran’s embassy in Beirut; Seyed Mohsen Mousavi, charge d'affaires at the embassy; Taghi Rastegar Moghadam, an embassy employee; and Kazem Akhavan, a photographer for an Iranian news agency were kidnapped by a Christian militia when their vehicle passed through a checkpoint in the village of Borbara on July 5, 1982.

Of the four Iranians, Motevaselian was the most popular figure because of his role in the liberation of the city of Khorramshahr as commander of the 27th Mohammad Rasoul-Allah Brigade during the Iran-Iraq War. Iraqi forces had invaded Khorramshahr in 1980 at the order of Iraqi President Saddam Hussein. Despite suffering heavy casualties, Iranian forces were able to take back the city after 575 days and expel Iraqi troops in Operation Beit ol-Moghaddas. The joint army and Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps battle was a turning point in the war and etched in the minds of Iranians that, despite being outgunned and internationally isolated, they could defeat the Iraqi army.

The Iran-Iraq War would last six more years, though Motevaselian would not stay in Iran. After Israel invaded southern Lebanon in 1982, Motevaselian traveled to Lebanon in order to lead forces fighting against the Israeli occupation. He disappeared one month later.

In 1988, Samir Geagea, Lebanese politician and former commander of a Christian militia during the Lebanese civil war, accused his predecessor Eli Hobeika of taking the Iranians hostage for interrogation. In other reports by Iranian media, Geagea was quoted as saying that the Iranians were later killed. In 2009, Hassan Nasrallah, secretary-general of Hezbollah, said "there are signs the Iranian diplomats are in an [Israeli] jail." He rejected claims by Israel that the Iranians were killed and buried by Phalangists. Nasrallah said that on other occasions Israel has denied holding prisoners that later turned out to be false.