Iran officials visit 5 Iranians held by U.S. in Iraq

[Eugene]

Source: Reuters

Iran officials visit 5 Iranians held by U.S. in Iraq
07 Jul 2007 13:07:11 GMT

BAGHDAD, July 7 (Reuters) - Three Iranian diplomats have
made the first consular visit to five Iranians who were
detained by U.S. forces in northern Iraq in January, Iraq's
foreign minister said on Saturday, describing it as a positive
development.

Hoshiyar Zebari told Reuters the visit took place earlier on
Saturday and lasted for several hours.

The U.S. military says the five Iranians are linked to Iran's
Revolutionary Guards and were backing militants in Iraq.
Iran has insisted they are diplomats and demanded they be
freed.


Read more: http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/L07534024.htm

[ChairmanAgnostic]

1. you mean, we didn't arrest the diplomats?

Condi and Cheney must have been asleep.

[struggle4progress]

2. Iranian diplomats visit 5 compatriots held by US in Iraq

8 Jul 2007, 0814 hrs IST,AP

BAGHDAD: ~snip~ Iraqi Foreign Minister Hoshyar Zebari said he hoped the visit to the detainees, who have been held since January, would help ease tensions between Iran and the United States.

Iran's ambassador to Iraq, Hassan Kazemi Qomi, told Iran's Arabic language Al-Alam channel he and his staff met with the Iranians for five hours at their detention facility and their "morale was high." He repeated Tehran's demands that they be immediately released. ~snip~

"The presence of the diplomats in Iraq is legal and this detention should have not took place," Qomi said, according to an Arabic translation of his comments. ~snip~

Foreign Minister Hoshyar Zebari expressed appreciation to the US Embassy in Baghdad and the US military for helping organise the visit.

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/Gulf/Iranian_diplomats_visit_5_compatriots_held_by_US_in_Iraq/articleshow/2185805.cms