"The Islamic republic is calling for an Iranian-Lebanese committee to be created to look into the details and circumstances of this incident," Mohammed Reza Shibani told reporters after meeting with Foreign Minister Fawzi Sallukh.

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

Tehran and the Lebanese Shiite Muslim movement Hezbollah have repeatedly said the four Iranians are still alive and in Israel custody, after being handed over by the Lebanese Forces or LF, militia to then ally Israel.

But Israel last year submitted a report to Hezbollah in which it said the four Iranians had been killed by the LF and buried at a secret location.

However, Hezbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah last week rejected the allegation, saying his party had information that the four Iranians were in Israeli jails. He also called for information from the LF, which is now led by Samir Geagea.

Geagea, who argues that the four diplomats were kidnapped before he became head of the LF, told AFP in 2006 that the four Iranians had died in captivity at least 20 years ago.

He said at the time that he had learned from militia members that the Iranians had died in an undisclosed incident. -AP