Thursday, July 09, 2009 BAGHDAD: The US military in Iraq on Thursday freed five Iranian diplomats held since January 2007 in a major source of friction between archfoes Tehran and Washington, Iraqi and Iranian officials said. Iraqi Foreign Minister Hoshyar Zebari said the five men were handed over to the government under a security accord which lays out the terms for the US pullout from the war-torn nation and the transfer of prisoners in US custody. "This process is taking place today and includes the Iranian officials arrested in Arbil," he said while talking to a French news agency. The US military, which has long accused Iran of funding and equipping militias in Iraq, had arrested the five at an office in the Kurdish city of Arbil in northern Iraq on January 11, 2007. "The five Iranian diplomats abducted in Iraq were handed over by the occupying US forces to the Iraqi prime minister (Nuri al-Maliki)," Iran's local news agency said, quoting Tehran's ambassador to Baghdad Hassan Kazemi Qomi. Iranian foreign ministry spokesman Hassan Ghashghavi said the five had been handed over to the government in Baghdad at 0730 GMT. "They called their families from there. They are in good health. They will be handed over to our embassy within hours," he told Iranian state television. "They were innocent and arrested against all international regulations under the Vienna convention," Ghashghavi said, referring to the international treaty on privileges and immunity for diplomatic missions. The detention of the five has long been an extra bone of contention in the decades of hostile relations between Iran and the United States, which accuses Tehran of stoking unrest in Iraq. Tehran charged US forces in Iraq with violating international diplomatic regulations over the arrests, but Washington and the US military in Iraq maintained the men had no diplomatic status. Zebari had said at the time that the five Iranians had been working in Arbil with official sanction, but that their "liaison office" had not yet become a full consulate. The US military continues to hold between 10,000 and 11,000 detainees in American-run prisons in Iraq even though US forces pulled out of towns and cities across the country on June 30 under a November accord. Zebari said the release of the Iranians was in line with the so-called Status of Forces Agreement signed by Baghdad and Washington under which all detainees in US custody should be transferred to the Iraqi authorities. "It's part of the implementation of the security agreement which shows the commitment and the sincerity of the US military regarding the agreement." The five Iranian men were identified by Iran's state broadcaster as Mohsen Bagheri, Mahmoud Farhadi, Majid Ghaemi, Majid Dagheri and Abbas Jami.
Thursday, July 09, 2009 BAGHDAD: The US military in Iraq on Thursday freed five Iranian diplomats held since January 2007 in a major source of friction between archfoes Tehran and Washington, Iraqi and Iranian officials said. Iraqi Foreign Minister Hoshyar Zebari said the five men were handed over to the government under a security accord which lays out the terms for the US pullout from the war-torn nation and the transfer of prisoners in US custody. "This process is taking place today and includes the Iranian officials arrested in Arbil," he said while talking to a French news agency. The US military, which has long accused Iran of funding and equipping militias in Iraq, had arrested the five at an office in the Kurdish city of Arbil in northern Iraq on January 11, 2007. "The five Iranian diplomats abducted in Iraq were handed over by the occupying US forces to the Iraqi prime minister (Nuri al-Maliki)," Iran's local news agency said, quoting Tehran's ambassador to Baghdad Hassan Kazemi Qomi. Iranian foreign ministry spokesman Hassan Ghashghavi said the five had been handed over to the government in Baghdad at 0730 GMT. "They called their families from there. They are in good health. They will be handed over to our embassy within hours," he told Iranian state television. "They were innocent and arrested against all international regulations under the Vienna convention," Ghashghavi said, referring to the international treaty on privileges and immunity for diplomatic missions. The detention of the five has long been an extra bone of contention in the decades of hostile relations between Iran and the United States, which accuses Tehran of stoking unrest in Iraq. Tehran charged US forces in Iraq with violating international diplomatic regulations over the arrests, but Washington and the US military in Iraq maintained the men had no diplomatic status. Zebari had said at the time that the five Iranians had been working in Arbil with official sanction, but that their "liaison office" had not yet become a full consulate. The US military continues to hold between 10,000 and 11,000 detainees in American-run prisons in Iraq even though US forces pulled out of towns and cities across the country on June 30 under a November accord. Zebari said the release of the Iranians was in line with the so-called Status of Forces Agreement signed by Baghdad and Washington under which all detainees in US custody should be transferred to the Iraqi authorities. "It's part of the implementation of the security agreement which shows the commitment and the sincerity of the US military regarding the agreement." The five Iranian men were identified by Iran's state broadcaster as Mohsen Bagheri, Mahmoud Farhadi, Majid Ghaemi, Majid Dagheri and Abbas Jami.
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