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Iraq's foreign minister says Iran is
punishing Kurdish region for U.S. detention of Iranian
30.9.2007
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September 30, 2007
United Nations: Iraq's foreign minister
Hoshyar Zebari said late Saturday that Iran is
punishing Iraqi Kurdistan region for something the
Kurdish authorities were not responsible for — the
arrest of an Iranian official by the U.S. military
on Sept. 20.
Hoshyar Zebari said he raised the issue of Iran's
closure of five border crossing points into the
northern Kurdish region with Iranian Foreign
Minister Manouchehr Mottaki on the sidelines of the
U.N. General Assembly's ministerial meeting.
Zebari said he told Mottaki "this is not a wise
move, this can only undermine the atmosphre of
confidence, and you're punishing the whole region
for an act that they were not responsible for."
The U.S. military said the Iranian, Mahmudi Farhadi,
was a member of the Quds Force, a branch of the
Iranian Revolutionary Guards that smuggles weapons
to Shiite extremists. |
Iraqi Foreign Minister Hoshyar Zebari
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The arrest has raised friction between U.S. and
Iraqi authorities at a time when tempers were
already running high over the Sept. 16 killing of 11
Iraqi civilians allegedly by security guards from
Blackwater USA, which protects American diplomats in
Iraq. Blackwater insists its guards acted legally
and were returning fire from armed insurgents.
Zebari said he told the Iranians the border closure
"can only undermine the atmosphre of confidence"
between the two countries.
He said the Iraqi government has asked the U.S.
Embassy in Baghdad for all the facts about the
incident, and reiterated Iraqi calls for the U.S. to
release the Iranian official. But Zebari said the
Iranian remains in U.S. custody, and the border
remains shut.
"I think that was a direct response to the detention
of an Iranian official by the U.S. military in
Sulaimaniyah, and this was a collective punishment
for the region, for something that the Kurdish
regional authorities were not responsible," Zebari
said.
"And I personally feel it's unfair and unjust, and
it has affected the economic life of the
region.Prices have gone up," he said.
"The region is dependent in some way on fuel
supplies from Iran, but the Iranians want to make a
point here."
Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad denied in an
AP interview on Monday that Iran closed its border
with Iraq over the arrest of the Iranian.
"On an annual basis, millions of Iranians visit Iraq
and Iraq's holy sites for pilgrimage purposes," he
said.
"Recently, as a result of some clashes and the
explosion of some bombs, a number of Iranian
civilian casualties arose. So the government has
asked Iranian citizens to avoid traveling for
pilgrimage purposes until security is restored. The
commercial goods and freight transactions continue,
and the travel across the border for those purposes
continue," Ahmadinejad said.
AP
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