Iranian FM thanks Qatar, Turkey, Syria over release of Iranian religious tourists

TEHRAN,Jan.13(MNA) - During telephone conversations Iranian Foreign Minister Ali Akbar Salehi thanked the foreign ministers of Qatar and Turkey as well as a number of Syrian officials for their efforts to obtain the release of the 48 Iranian religious tourists, who were abducted in Syria in August 2012. The Iranian citizens arrived at Tehran’s Mehrabad Airport on Thursday afternoon, a day after they were released in a swap deal between the Syrian government and armed opposition groups. On August 4, the 48 Iranians were stopped by armed terrorists and all of them were kidnapped as they were travelling in a bus in Damascus.