Monday, April 09, 2007
Iran warns of consequences if detained Iranians in Iraq are not released
Security, Iran, U.S.
(Reuters) - Iran has warned neighboring Iraq that its failure to secure the release of five Iranians detained there by U.S. forces could impair Tehran's cooperation with Baghdad, a senior official was quoted on Sunday as saying. Washington says the five men, detained in January in northern Iraq, are linked to Iran's Revolutionary Guards and were backing militants. Iran insists they are diplomats, wants them freed and has requested access.
"We are serious about the way we will confront those behind the arrest of the Iranian diplomats in Iraq," Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki was quoted as saying by the semi-official Fars news agency, seen as close to the Revolutionary Guards. "On Friday I sent a letter to the Iraqi foreign minister and other officials in Iraq and pointed out that their efforts over the release of the diplomats have had no results and I emphasized that if this situation continues we will have problems in taking other steps to help Iraq," he said.
Mottaki's Iraqi counterpart, Hoshiyar Zebari, said he had not received any letter. He insisted his government was working hard to secure the release of the five. "They know very well that the Iraqi government has done, and is doing, its best to try to facilitate their release. We still have not received any confirmation from the Americans that they will release them. "But we hope that this will not be a reason to disturb our bilateral relations," he told Reuters in Baghdad.
"We are serious about the way we will confront those behind the arrest of the Iranian diplomats in Iraq," Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki was quoted as saying by the semi-official Fars news agency, seen as close to the Revolutionary Guards. "On Friday I sent a letter to the Iraqi foreign minister and other officials in Iraq and pointed out that their efforts over the release of the diplomats have had no results and I emphasized that if this situation continues we will have problems in taking other steps to help Iraq," he said.
Mottaki's Iraqi counterpart, Hoshiyar Zebari, said he had not received any letter. He insisted his government was working hard to secure the release of the five. "They know very well that the Iraqi government has done, and is doing, its best to try to facilitate their release. We still have not received any confirmation from the Americans that they will release them. "But we hope that this will not be a reason to disturb our bilateral relations," he told Reuters in Baghdad.
The families of five Iranians held for three months in US detention in Iraq met an International Committee of the Red Cross representative on Sunday to ask for news about their health, state media said. Foreign ministry spokesman Mohammad Ali Hosseini said earlier that no Iranian official has so far visited the men, who were arrested in northern Iraq in January on accusations of seeking to stir the insurgency. ICRC representatives have seen the detainees twice, and the US has confirmed there were no Iranians among the visiting team.
Labels: Hoshyar Zibari, ICRC, International Committee of the Red Cross, Iranian detainees, Mohammed Ali Hosseini, Revolutionary Guards, U.S.
