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US General: Five Iranians Detained in Iraq Should Not be Released
October 05, 2007
AFP
Yahoo News!
WASHINGTON -- General Raymond Odierno, the number two leader of US forces in Iraq, said in an interview published Friday that he will recommend that the five Iranians that US forces detained in Iraq in January should not be released.
Their case will be reviewed this month, and according to The Washington Post it is so sensitive that it is being reviewed by the White House.
"Militarily, we should hold on to them," Odierno told the Post.
US forces detained the five in the Kurdish city of Irbil, and say they were helping insurgents fighting US-led forces in Iraq.
Iran insists the captives are diplomats working at Tehran's consulate in Irbil.
Iranian officials continue to demand their release, arguing that the five did nothing illegal.
Separately, Iraq is calling for the release of Mahmudi Farhadi, another Iranian US forces detained September 20 in Sulaimaniyah, also in Iraq's northern autonomous Kurdish region.
In Baghdad, Major General Kevin Bergner told reporters Wednesday that "multiple sources" implicated Farhadi in providing weapons to "Iraqi criminal elements in the service of Iran."
Iran condemned what it called the "unwarranted" arrest of Farhani, described as a businessman in Iraq at the invitation of the Kurdish regional government.
Iraqi President Jalal Talabani has slammed the arrest as illegal and demanded Farhadi's release.
And on September 24, Iran shut its frontiers with Iraq in protest, causing mayhem at the border and major economic losses to traders in the Kurdish region.
link to original article
October 05, 2007
AFP
Yahoo News!
WASHINGTON -- General Raymond Odierno, the number two leader of US forces in Iraq, said in an interview published Friday that he will recommend that the five Iranians that US forces detained in Iraq in January should not be released.
Their case will be reviewed this month, and according to The Washington Post it is so sensitive that it is being reviewed by the White House.
"Militarily, we should hold on to them," Odierno told the Post.
US forces detained the five in the Kurdish city of Irbil, and say they were helping insurgents fighting US-led forces in Iraq.
Iran insists the captives are diplomats working at Tehran's consulate in Irbil.
Iranian officials continue to demand their release, arguing that the five did nothing illegal.
Separately, Iraq is calling for the release of Mahmudi Farhadi, another Iranian US forces detained September 20 in Sulaimaniyah, also in Iraq's northern autonomous Kurdish region.
In Baghdad, Major General Kevin Bergner told reporters Wednesday that "multiple sources" implicated Farhadi in providing weapons to "Iraqi criminal elements in the service of Iran."
Iran condemned what it called the "unwarranted" arrest of Farhani, described as a businessman in Iraq at the invitation of the Kurdish regional government.
Iraqi President Jalal Talabani has slammed the arrest as illegal and demanded Farhadi's release.
And on September 24, Iran shut its frontiers with Iraq in protest, causing mayhem at the border and major economic losses to traders in the Kurdish region.
link to original article