BEIRUT, 6 February 2004 — Iran’s foreign minister said yesterday he hoped the fate of four Iranian diplomats missing in Lebanon for 22 years would be determined under a second stage of prisoner swap talks between Israel and Hezbollah fighters.

“The main aim of this visit to Lebanon is really the (fate) of four Iranian captives who were captured in 1982,” Kamal Kharrazi said at Beirut airport at the start of a two-day visit during which he will meet top Lebanese and Hezbollah officials.

Iran believes the diplomats, reportedly kidnapped by the Christian Lebanese Forces (LF) militia then allied to Israel, are alive and possibly in Israel. Christian warlords have since said the four were killed shortly after they were captured.

Israel and Hezbollah carried out a German-mediated swap last week that freed hundreds of Arab prisoners for a kidnapped Israeli businessman and the bodies of three dead soldiers.

The second stage of talks will focus on the fate of Israeli airman Ron Arad, who bailed out over Lebanon in 1986, and the senior Iranian diplomats.

Israel says the Lebanese guerrillas handed Arad over to their Iranian backers and that he might still be alive. Both Iran and Hezbollah have said they had no information on his fate but were willing to help resolve his case.

Germany will form separate committees with Israel and Hezbollah to resolve the outstanding issues.

“We hope that the fate of the four Iranian diplomats who were captured would be determined through our talks today and tomorrow and through the committee that will be formed,” Kharrazi told reporters.

He said there was “a lot of information” that the four were in Israel but gave no details.

He was accompanied by several relatives of the four diplomats — Mohsen Al-Mousawy, Ahmad Moutvasselian, Kazem Akhavan and Taqie Rastjar Mouqoddam.

In Jerusalem, a senior Israeli security source said the diplomats were “murdered” by the LF militia “in what appears to be a localized settling of scores.”

“This was a crime in which we had no part. We have made this clear to the other side repeatedly, through various channels. Western intelligence agencies corroborated our account,” the source said.

The source said the Iranians were still reluctant to believe that they already have all the facts.

Raed al-Mousawy, son of one of the missing diplomats, said the families believed they were still alive and held in Israel.

“The information available to us shows they are alive and we are certain of that...They are alive and held in Israel,” he said, adding that some in Israel wanted to exchange them with Arad.

The second phase of talks is also set to include the release of Samir Al-Qantar, the last Lebanese prisoner still in Israel.