TEHRAN - Iran said that it will file a lawsuit against those responsible for the kidnapping of three of its diplomats in Lebanon in 1982 and is investigating comments made by anti-Syrian Christian warlord Samir Geagea, Iranian newspapers said Thursday.

The announcement came after Geagea, who has been serving a life sentence in jail since 1994, was pardoned on Monday.

"It is on our agenda to file a lawsuit in a Lebanese court against those who did this", foreign ministry spokesman Hamid Reza Asefi was quoted as saying.

Iran aims at "transparently and through legal means pursuing those who committed this and have them identified and receive justice," he said.

The ministry is currently investigating claims made by Geagea that he had handed over the diplomats to the then Christian security forces, he added.

Three Iranian diplomats -- Mohsen Mousavi, Ahmad Motevaselian, Taqi Rastegarmoghaddam -- and a photgrapher for state news agency IRNA, Kazem Akhavan, went missing in northern Lebanon in 1982 during the country's civil war.

Tehran and the Lebanese Shiite Muslim movement Hezbollah say they were kidnapped and handed over by a Christian militia to Israel and are still alive in Israeli custody.

"We believe that these people are alive and that the Zionist regime is responsible for their safety and should bear the consequences," Asefi added.

Geagea is still in jail, awaiting his release.

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