The US 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 row over the five tested the Iraqi government's ties with Washington as President Jalal Talabani left for Syria, another foe of US President George W. Bush who this week vowed to stop the support for insurgents from both Syria and Iran.
Iraqi Foreign Minister Hoshiyar Zebari said the Iranians were not accredited as diplomats but were working with Iraqi approval. Calling for their release, he said the incident underlined the "delicate balance" Baghdad is trying to strike. "We fully respect the views, policies and strategy of the United States which is the strongest ally to Iraq but the Iraqi government has national interests of its own," Zebari said.
"We can't change the geographical reality that Iran is our neighbour. This is a delicate balance and we are treading a very thin line," he told Reuters in an interview.
The five men were arrested on Thursday in a US dawn raid on an Iranian government office in the Kurdish regional capital of Arbil. Zebari, a Kurd, said the mission was in the process of being granted consular status.
As the row over the Iranians brewed, Talabani, also an ethnic Kurd, left on Sunday for Syria, which the Bush administration says allows weapons and fighters to cross its border into Iraq in support of the anti-US insurgency.
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. "We hope the Syrians will help Iraqis stabilise security," Talabani said before leaving for what he said would be a three- to five-day visit to a city where he spent many years in exile.
Aides say he will 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.
BUSH WARNING:
The Arbil raid was the second such operation in a month and came as 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 was denounced by the regional Kurdish government as a violation of its sovereignty.
The US military said the five detainees were connected to the Iranian Revolutionary Guard-Qods Force (IRGC-QF).
The organisation was "known for providing funds, weapons, improvised explosive device technology and training to extremist groups attempting to destabilise the government of Iraq and attack Coalition forces", it said in a statement. In Tehran, Foreign Ministry spokesman Mohammad Ali Hosseini demanded their immediate release, saying 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 and US official declined comment on that.
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