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U.S. army releases 9 detained Iranian in
Iraq
9.11.2007
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November 9, 2007
BAGHDAD,-- The U.S. military said on Friday
it had released nine Iranians held in Iraq, days
after U.S. officials signaled a possible change in
approach by noting positive developments in Iran's
involvement in Iraq.
The nine included two who were among five captured
in Erbil, the capital of Kurdistan region 'northern
Iraq'
in January 2007
on suspicion of aiding Shi'ite militias in Iraq.
One of the released, had been arrested in Falluja in
2004 and another in Ramadi in 2005, noting "among
the released were two Iranians arrested by the U.S.
army in Erbil on January 11, 2007."
Their capture added to a sharp rise in tensions
between Iran and Iraq, and between bitter rivals
Washington and Tehran.
"All nine individuals were determined to no longer
pose a security risk and to be of no continued
intelligence value," the U.S. military said in a
statement.
The building, along with another Iranian office in
Sulaimaniyah, was shut after the Jan. 11 raid. Both
offices — located in the two largest cities of
Iraq's semi-autonomous Kurdistan region — reopened
Tuesday as Iranian consulates.
The statement said the nine men had been handed over
to the Iraqi government. Iraqi government spokesman
Ali al-Dabbagh said the nine were handed over to
Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki.
They were then transferred to the Iranian embassy in
Baghdad.
Iranian state television quoted an unidentified
Iranian embassy official as saying that the two
captured in Erbil, who were described as diplomats,
would return home later on Friday.
The prisoners freed were among 20 Iranians being
held by U.S. forces in Iraq, many on suspicion of
aiding Shi'ite militias and fuelling Iraq's
insurgency in which tens of thousands of Iraqis have
died.
U.S. officials say that the five captured in the
Kurdish city of Erbil in January were either members
or "associates" of the Iranian Revolutionary
Guards's elite Qods Force, which Washington accuses
of supporting terrorism.
In October, the US declared the overseas operations
arm of the Iranian Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC)
a "supporter of terrorism", saying it was supplying
and training Shia militants in Iraq.
Iran insists that all five detained in Erbil are
diplomats.
Tehran has denied stoking violence in Iraq, blaming
bloodshed in Iraq on the U.S.-led liberation to
topple Saddam Hussein in 2003. Washington accuses
Tehran of funding, training and arming militias in
Iraq.
The U.S. military announced it would release the
nine this week after noting last month a sharp drop
in mortar attacks on Baghdad's heavily fortified
Green Zone. Many of those attacks have been blamed
on Shi'ite militias using Iranian-made weapons.
U.S. Ambassador to Iraq Ryan Crocker has also made
note of the ceasefire ordered by Moqtada al-Sadr,
the head of the feared Shi'ite Mehdi Army, in
August.
Crocker has held three rounds of talks on security
in Iraq with his Iranian counterpart this year.
Reuters | AP | VOI
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