Seized Iranians 'held by Israel'

Mojtaba Ferdoussi, right, made the announcement beneath a portrait of the four

Four Iranians who disappeared in Lebanon in 1982 are still alive and being held in Israel, the Iranian embassy in Lebanon has said.

Charge d'affaires Mojtaba Ferdoussi said the information had come from people released from Israeli prisons.

Israel denies holding the four men - a charge d'affaires, a diplomat, a photographer and an embassy driver.

Earlier, Hezbollah said Israel would provide details on the fate of the four as part of a prisoner exchange.

"All the information that we have confirms that they are imprisoned by the Israelis... we will not be desperate and we will continue our humanitarian efforts," Mr Ferdoussi said at a news conference in Beirut.

Kidnapped at checkpoint

The four Iranians - charge d'affaires Mohsen Mousavi, diplomat Ahmad Motovasselian, photographer Kazem Akhavan and Mohammad Taqi Rastgar Moghaddam, an embassy driver - were kidnapped at a checkpoint manned by a Christian militia north of Beirut.

We have the information from the prisoners liberated from the Israeli prisons Raed Mousawi son of missing Iranian

Officials from the now disbanded militia have said in the past that the Iranians were killed soon after being seized.

Other reports have said they were killed in an artillery bombardment.

No bodies have ever been found.

Tehran insists that they were kidnapped by right-wing Lebanese Christian militiamen, allied to the Jewish state, who then delivered them to Israel.

Israel denies holding them, but Raed Mousawi, the son of one of the missing Iranians, said that testimonies from other released prisoners suggested the opposite.

"We are confident from years ago that those Iranian hostages are alive and we have the information from the prisoners liberated from the Israeli prisons," he said.

On Wednesday, Hezbollah leader Sheik Hassan Nasrallah said Israel would supply information on the fate of the four Iranians as part of an agreed prisoner swap.

He said his group would hand over two captured Israeli soldiers and information on a missing Israeli airman in exchange for five Lebanese prisoners in Israel.