DUBAI, Jan 4: Al Arabiya television aired a video on Wednesday which showed Iranian soldiers being held hostage by militants who are pressing Tehran to free 16 jailed members of the Sunni Muslim group.

Iran on Sunday confirmed that nine of its soldiers had gone missing from their post close to Iran’s border with Pakistan. On Tuesday, Foreign Ministry spokesman Hamid Reza Asefi said they were thought to have been taken to Pakistan.

Interior Minister Mostafa Pourmohammadi was upbeat about securing the soldiers’ release.

“We have made every effort to resolve the kidnapping peacefully ... In the next few days we will hear good news,” he told the official IRNA news agency on Wednesday.

Al Arabiya said the tape showed the soldiers appealing to their government to heed the militants’ demand.

The video showed men standing in a row and speaking to the camera, but their voices were not audible.

The tape’s authenticity could not be verified immediately.

IRAN OPTIMISTIC: Iranian Interior Minister Mostafa Pour-Mohammadi said on Wednesday that he was hopeful the border guards would soon be freed.

“We are making every effort to find a peaceful solution to the hostage-taking on our eastern border,” the minister told the official IRNA news agency.

“In the next few days, we will witness good news on this matter.”—Reuters/AFP