.Iraq Kurds demand release of Iranian detained by US
ARBIL, Iraq (AFP) — The government of Iraq's autonomous Kurdish region demanded the immediate release on Friday of an Iranian arrested by US troops in a raid that sparked a new row between Washington and Tehran.
"We consider this action by the Americans to be illegal," said a statement from the office of regional president Massud Barzani.
The US military arrested the Iranian on suspicion of smuggling bombs on Thursday at a hotel in the northern city of Sulaimaniyah which forms part of the Kurdish region.
Iran condemned what it called the "unwarranted" arrest of an official it said was in Iraq at the invitation of the Kurdish regional government and lodged a strong protest with the authorities in Baghdad.
"We are following this file with the Iraqis to try to resolve the affair," said an Iranian diplomat in Baghdad speaking on condition of anonymity.
"We have no information on where he is being held and we have no contact with those who seized him," the diplomat added.
The US military said their detainee was believed to be an officer of the Quds Force, the covert operations arm of Iran's elite Revolutionary Guards, and that he was suspected of involvement in smuggling sophisticated explosives.
"They must release this individual as quickly as possible because this kind of attitude does not serve the common interest," Barzani's office said.
According to the Kurdish regional government and the Iranian foreign ministry, the detained man is head of "cross border commercial transactions" in the office of the governor general of Kermanshah province in western Iran.
He was part of an official delegation that was invited by the Sulaimaniyah authorities.
Kermanshah governor Abdul Majid Ghafori warned that relations with Iraqi Kurdistan would be severely hit if the man -- identified as Mr Farhadi -- was not swiftly released.
It was the third such action by US troops against Iranian nationals in Iraq this year.
Late last month, US forces briefly detained a group of Iranians, including two diplomats, from a Baghdad hotel in what the military later said was a "regrettable incident."
But the US military is still holding five Iranians it detained in the northern Kurdish city of Arbil in January on suspicion of involvement in arming Iraqi insurgents. Iran insists the men are diplomats.
AFP
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"We consider this action by the Americans to be illegal," said a statement from the office of regional president Massud Barzani.
The US military arrested the Iranian on suspicion of smuggling bombs on Thursday at a hotel in the northern city of Sulaimaniyah which forms part of the Kurdish region.
Iran condemned what it called the "unwarranted" arrest of an official it said was in Iraq at the invitation of the Kurdish regional government and lodged a strong protest with the authorities in Baghdad.
"We are following this file with the Iraqis to try to resolve the affair," said an Iranian diplomat in Baghdad speaking on condition of anonymity.
"We have no information on where he is being held and we have no contact with those who seized him," the diplomat added.
The US military said their detainee was believed to be an officer of the Quds Force, the covert operations arm of Iran's elite Revolutionary Guards, and that he was suspected of involvement in smuggling sophisticated explosives.
"They must release this individual as quickly as possible because this kind of attitude does not serve the common interest," Barzani's office said.
According to the Kurdish regional government and the Iranian foreign ministry, the detained man is head of "cross border commercial transactions" in the office of the governor general of Kermanshah province in western Iran.
He was part of an official delegation that was invited by the Sulaimaniyah authorities.
Kermanshah governor Abdul Majid Ghafori warned that relations with Iraqi Kurdistan would be severely hit if the man -- identified as Mr Farhadi -- was not swiftly released.
It was the third such action by US troops against Iranian nationals in Iraq this year.
Late last month, US forces briefly detained a group of Iranians, including two diplomats, from a Baghdad hotel in what the military later said was a "regrettable incident."
But the US military is still holding five Iranians it detained in the northern Kurdish city of Arbil in January on suspicion of involvement in arming Iraqi insurgents. Iran insists the men are diplomats.
AFP
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