 BAGHDAD - 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 Teheran called them diplomats and demanded they be released.
The five were arrested on Thursday in a US dawn raid on an Iranian government office in the Kurdish city of Arbil. 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.
| Sounds pretty obvious to me. They're holed up in a 'diplomatic' office dispensing arms, ammo and cash. Close them up and send them home, at a bare minimum. |
| Nope. I'm calling for them to be held for 445 days and released only after a new president of Iran is inaugurated... |
| Good point; I like your plan better ... |
US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice repeated Washington’s accusations that Iran is providing training and weapons to militias fighting US 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.
But Rice said BushÂ’s order to target Iranians operating in Iraq as tensions between the two counties have mounted over TeheranÂ’s nuclear ambitions was not a broadening of the dispute.
| Just broadening our response. |
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