Azerbaijan, Baku, Aug. 7 /Trend S.Isayev, T. Jafarov/
Iran has sent an official letter to the U.S., claiming the Western country is responsible for the 48 Iranians kidnapped in Syria several days ago, IRNA reported.
On August 4, 48 Iranians were kidnapped in the Syrian city of Damascus. Syrian officials said armed assailants attacked the bus and kidnapped the Iranians in Zeinabiyah neighborhood as the vehicle was moving towards Damascus international airport.
Syrian rebels said three Iranian captives were killed on August 6, during an air attack in Damascus province by government forces, and threatened to kill the remaining Iranians in their custody unless the army stopped its attack, Reuters reported.
Deputy Foreign Minister for African and Arab Affairs Hossein Amir Abdollahian said the letter was sent to the U.S. side from the Swiss embassy in Tehran today.
Amir Abdollahian noted that the U.S. "supports terrorist groups in Syria, and provides them with weapons". He underscored that the "U.S. will be held responsible for the lives of those kidnapped Iranian pilgrims".
Iranian parliament speaker Ali Larijani also said the U.S., along with some regional countries are responsible for the incident with the kidnapped Iranians, adding that they will get a proper response, in time.
Meanwhile, on August 5, Al-Arabiya reported referring to a Syrian who defected from the army to join the rebels, that there are Iranian IRGC members among the captured.
Several groups of Iranians have been abducted in Syria since the uprising began in March 2011.
Five Iranian engineers were kidnapped in the flashpoint city of Homs in December. Iranian media said they had all been released by last month. A group of pilgrims were snatched in January and another in February. Most have been freed, according to Iranian media.