Azerbaijan, Baku, Aug. 8 /Trend D.Khatinoglu/
All of the 48 kidnapped Iranians in Syria are alive, Iran sent a strong message to the Free Syrian Army that they are responsible for kidnapped Iranian citizens, Iranian Deputy Foreign Minister for Arab and African Affairs Hossein Amir Abdollahian says, IRNA reported.
"We sent the same message for countries that support the Free Syrian Army," he added.
Abdollahian said that Iran has not received any request or precondition from the kidnappers to release the Iranians, but Iran is active in trying to resolve the problem.
He underlined that the Free Syrian Army undertakes its military training in one of Iran's neighbouring countries, without revealing the name. Iran previously charged Turkey and the Iraqi Kurdistan Regional Government of military support for Free Syrian Army.
"We loudly announce our support for the Bashar Assad government which is placed at the centre of resistance headquarters (against Israel) and we say the solution way in Syria crisis is dialogue," he added.
A busload of 48 Iranians was seized by the Syrian rebels in early August. Rebels say that they are the members of Iran's Revolutionary Guard Corps.
Earlier the Free Syrian Army announced that three of the 48 Iranians had been killed in a government air strike and the rest would be executed if the attacks did not stop.
Iran's foreign minister Ali Akbar Salehi has confirmed that there are some elderly former IRGC and Iranian army members among the kidnapped pilgrims in Syria.
Tehran says the busload were pilgrims visiting a Shi'ite Muslim shrine, denying suggestions that they were military personnel helping Assad put down the rebellion.