Posted on 11/06/2007 6:27:38 PM PST by nuconvert
US Military to Release Nine Iranians Detained in Iraq
November 06, 2007 AFP Kuwait Times
BAGHDAD -- The US military said yesterday it will release nine Iranians detained in Iraq in recent months on suspicion of aiding the anti-American insurgency and helping Shiite militias.
US military spokesman Rear Admiral Gregory Smith told reporters that the nine would be released in the coming days as none of them posed a threat to security in Iraq.
It is our intention to release nine Iranians currently held captive in the near future," Smith said."These individuals have no continuing value, nor do they pose a further threat to Iraqi security.
US forces detained five Iranians in January in a raid in a building in the Kurdish city of Arbil, accusing them of aiding the deadly insurgency in Iraq, although Tehran insisted they were diplomats.
Another Iranian was seized by US forces in northern Iraq in September, suspected of being a member of the Quds Force, the covert operations arm of Iran's elite Revolutionary Guards which is accused by US commanders of helping Shiite militias in Iraq.
It is not known whether he is among the nine. Smith said two of the detainees were seized in Arbil in January and the other seven were detained at various other times.
In the heavily-fortified Green Zone, the US military put on display large number of weapons seized in raids which Smith charged had mainly originated from Iran.
However, two of the most recent large cache finds do not appear to contain components that arrived after Iran's commitment to Iraq to stop arming, funding and training terrorists," Smith said.
We hope to confirm in the coming weeks and months that Iran has been honoring its pledge through further verification that the flow of munitions has indeed stopped.
The announcement came as Iran opened two consulates in Arbil and Sulaimaniyah in a bid to improve ties with the Kurdish region, taking to four the number of consulates in Iraq, in addition to an embassy in Baghdad.
The Arbil mission was opened in a building that was targeted in the US raid in January and has been closed since then.
At the opening ceremony, Tehran's ambassador to Baghdad, Hassan Kazemi Qomi told reporters that the continued detention of the five was an "illegal act against the Iraqi sovereignty.
They are still in custody. We hope they would be released." Turning to ties between northern Iraq and Iran, Qomi said: "Through these two consulates Iran can play a bigger role in the economy of Kurdistan.
He said trade between Tehran and Baghdad was worth two billion dollars a year, while nearly a million Iraqis visited Iran annually and half a million Iranians visit Iraq, mostly pilgrims to Shiite holy sites and traders.
Qomi also urged neighbouring Arab countries to follow Tehran in opening their consulates in the war-ravaged country.
Nechirvan Barzani, the prime minister of Iraq's northern Kurdish administration, vowed to support Tehran in its efforts to boost relations between the two countries.
This is a significant step and from our side we will take all efforts for the successful working of the consulates," he said.
Iran had closed its border with the region for two weeks in late September in protest at the detention of Mahmoud Farhadi, who the Americans said was a Quds officer.
But both Iran and the regional Kurdish government say Farhadi is a businessman who was a member of a commercial delegation invited to visit Sulaimaniyah.
Tehran reopened the frontier after Iran said it would open two consulates in Arbil and Sulaimaniyah, while it was also agreed that Tehran would allow Iraq to open two consulates in the Iranian cities of Kermanshah and Orumiyeh.
Shiite Iran already has two consulates in the Iraqi Shiite cities of Karbala and Basra.
“No further threat”???? Apparently they posed a threat when arrested. So what - you release them to return again with arms and support? Or is this a clandestine (though thinly veiled) espionage mission?
I hope they put radio chips in them, like the dogs they are?
if not, kill ‘em.
I think it is a good idea if we “chip” every prisoner we release. I hope Israel does this too.
Those Iranians should be executed after single officer trial in the field within an hour of capture absent their providing information of value.
American GIs are dead because of them and our ever so well spoken, Pretty Boy, GQ Generals will release them so maybe they will not kill as many as they can in the future?
It was that weak attitude that created the Iranian mess under Mr Peanut to begin with..
W
It would be a good idea. And welcome Noobie! or is it just an old FReeper with a new name?
Makes me think of all those tin foilers who believe they have been chiped by aliens. The Iranians might believe - or be made to believe - that our technology is so advanced that they can't find what we did.
ROFL! Reminds me of Red Dawn!
Who is the FReeper that writes for the Onion? Maybe there’s a story here.??
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.