Iran committed to finding Moussa Sadr

On the 31st anniversary of Imam Moussa al-Sadr’s abduction, the Iranian foreign minister says Iran will continue efforts to find out about the cleric’s fate.

In a meeting with the head of a high-ranking Lebanese delegation Khalil Hamdan, Manouchehr Mottaki described Imam Moussa al-Sadr as a prominent figure whose ideals have deeply affected Lebanon and Islamic world.

Imam Moussa al-Sadr was kidnapped during an official visit to Tripoli to meet with officials from the government of Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi in August 1978.

In 2008, the Beirut government issued an arrest warrant for Gaddafi over Sadr’s disappearance.

Mottaki also hailed the Lebanese resistance movement and its role in defending Lebanon during the 33-Day War, and said that Israel “does not understand any language other than resistance.”

Israel launched an attack on Lebanon in 2006, but was met with resistance from Hezbollah. The invasion resulted in a heavy defeat for Tel Aviv, after the United Nations Security Council Resolution 1701 called on Israel to withdraw all of its forces from Lebanon.

The Iranian foreign minister added those who have fallen in the “trap of new US schemes” for Palestinian-Israeli talks would not succeed and their mission will be “the final nail in the coffin of any initiative regarding this issue (peace talks),” Fars News Agency reported.

“On the international Quds Day, the Iranian people alongside other Muslims will show that resistance is the only way to triumph over the Zionist regime [of Israel], “Mottaki said in reference to the annual occasion of Quds Day scheduled for September 3.

In August 1979, late founder of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini declared the last Friday of the holy month of Ramadan as the Quds Day, calling for international rallies against Israel to show the solidarity of the Muslim world with the Palestinian people.