The fate of Iranian military attaché Ahmad Motevaselian, who disappeared in Beirut in 1982 along with three other Iranians, has been confirmed by the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) after 41 years of mystery and conflicting accounts.
During a meeting with Motevaselian’s family on Saturday, the head of the IRGC, Hossein Salami, referred to Motevaselian as a “martyr,” the first official confirmation of his death. Iran had previously claimed that he was captured by Israelis.
IRGC-affiliated websites reported that Salami said, in a rare admission, that “Motevaselian is the first Iranian martyr on the path to liberating Jerusalem.”
This statement contradicts the Iranian authorities’ narrative of the four Iranians remaining alive in Israeli prisons.
Motevaselian led the 27th brigade, one of the IRGC's most prominent field units, and fought fierce battles against Kurdish opposition. He was later dispatched to Lebanon to train Hezbollah forces during the civil war in Beirut.
According to available information, Motevaselian was kidnapped at the Barbarah checkpoint on Beirut’s northern coast while accompanying then Iranian consul Mohsen Mosavi on a tour of the Lebanese capital.
He was later returned to Tehran on orders from Iran’s then Supreme Leader Ruhollah Khomeini.
The four kidnapped included Kazem Akhavan, a military affairs correspondent for the official news agency (IRNA), and Taghi Rastegar Moghaddam, the training supervisor in the IRGC who served as Motevaselian's right-hand man during his leadership of the IRGC in Marivan, a Kurdish city in western Iran.
Iran had described Moghaddam as a senior embassy employee and insisted on the account of the four being held in Israeli prisons.
The names of the missing Iranians have been brought up in prisoner exchange deals between Iran or the Lebanese Hezbollah and the Israelis.
Motevaselian’s case typically resurfaces in the media spotlight of the Iranian Ministry of Foreign Affairs every June, as people commemorate the anniversary of his disappearance.
