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US: Arrested Iranians tied to group arming
Iraqis
14.1.2007
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January 14, 2007
BAGHDAD, -- The U.S. military said on Sunday
that five Iranians held by its troops in Iraq are
linked to Revolutionary Guards who are arming and
funding Iraqi militants but Tehran called them
diplomats and demanded they be released.
The five were arrested on Thursday in a U.S. dawn
raid on an Iranian government office in the Kurdish
city of Erbil.
It was the second such operation in a month and came
as President Bush issued a blunt warning to Iran
over its activities in Iraq. It sparked concerns
that the conflict may widen as Washington prepares
to send additional troops to Iraq to quell soaring
sectarian violence there.
The operation, denounced by the regional Kurdish
government as a violation of its sovereignty,
underlined the challenges Baghdad faces in striking
a balance with Washington while building relations
with neighbors the Bush administration accuses of
fueling violence in Iraq.
Iraq's President Jalal Talabani, an ethnic Kurd, was
due to travel on Sunday to Syria, which the Bush
administration says allows weapons and fighters to
cross its border into Iraq in support of the anti-U.S.
insurgency there.
A day after the Erbil raid, Iraqi Foreign Minister
Hoshiyar Zebari expressed his government's concerns
that Iraq may become a "battleground for settling
scores with other countries."
The U.S. military said the five detainees were
connected to the Iranian Revolutionary Guard-Qods
Force (IRGC-QF).
The organization was "known for providing funds,
weapons, improvised explosive device technology and
training to extremist groups attempting to
destabilize the government of Iraq and attack
Coalition forces," it said in a statement.
In Tehran, Foreign Minister Mohammad Ali Hosseini
demanded their immediate release, saying that the
five were diplomats involved in "consulate affairs."
Iraq has said the mission did not yet have consular
status but was operating legitimately.
"Americans should immediately release the five
Iranians and pay compensation for the damages they
caused to our office in Arbil," Hosseini told a
weekly news conference.
Iraqi political sources have said they believe the
five will be released soon and that the Americans
had failed to find their main targets. Zebari, who
said the Iranian office has been operating legally
for years, has called for their release.
U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, in the
Middle East on a tour to drum up support for Bush's
plan to send an extra 21,5000 troops to quell
violence in Iraq, repeated Washington's accusations
that Iran is providing training and weapons to
militias fighting U.S. forces in Iraq.
"I think there is plenty of evidence that there is
Iranian involvement with these networks that are
making high-explosive IEDs (bombs) and that are
endangering our troops, and that's going to be dealt
with," she told reporters on her trip.
But Rice said Bush's order to target Iranians
operating in Iraq as tensions between the two
counties have mounted over Tehran's nuclear
ambitions was not a broadening of the dispute.
LOOKING FOR RESULTS
Rice also said on Saturday Washington would hold
Iraq's Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki to his promises
to reduce sectarian violence and that it was now
time to see results.
A day after Defense Secretary Robert Gates said
Maliki could lose his job if he failed to stop
communal bloodshed, Rice echoed previous remarks
that Maliki's government was living on "borrowed
time" and that America's patience was running out.
"To say that your patience isn't limited is simply
to say that the Iraqi government needs to start to
show results," Rice told reporters before arriving
in Israel on Saturday, according to a State
Department transcript of her remarks.
With Bush's critics saying his new strategy depends
too heavily on Maliki keeping promises he failed to
keep before, administration officials are piling
pressure on Iraqi politicians to solve their
differences and avert civil war.
Bush on Saturday accused opponents of failing to
propose alternative strategies and urged support for
troops on a mission "that will in large part
determine the outcome in Iraq".
Maliki has vowed to lead a Baghdad push he says will
hit insurgents from the once-dominant Sunni minority
and militias loyal to fellow Shi'ites, a key demand
of Washington and Sunnis.
Talabani's visit to Damascus is the first by a
senior Iraqi official since the two countries
resumed diplomatic ties last month after more than
two decades of boycott after Syria sided with Iran
during the Iraq-Iran war in 1980s.
Aides said Talabani will discuss security and ask
Damascus to control its borders and stop insurgents
moving into Iraq.
Both Syria and Iran deny that they provide support
to militants operating in Iraq.
Reuters
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