Doing the wrong thing perfectly

U.S. arrest of Iranians reportedly upsets Iraqi president

BAGHDAD, Iraq (CNN) -- Iraqi and Iranian authorities slammed the United States on Monday for having arrested several Iranians who were visiting Iraq.

A U.S. official said the Iranians were suspected of involvement in attacks against Iraqi security forces.

Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Seyyed Mohammad Ali Hosseini warned that "this action is not justifiable by any international rules or regulations and will have unpleasant consequences," Iran's semi-official Mehr news agency reported.

A spokesman for Iraqi President Jalal Talabani said Talabani had invited the Iranians to the country, and the president was "unhappy" about the arrests.

The U.S. National Security Council confirmed that the American military arrested at least four Iranians in raids during the past week in Iraq, including two diplomats.

NSC spokesman Gordon Johndroe said the two diplomats were questioned, turned over to the Iraqi government and released.

At least two others, who are members of the Iranian military, remain in U.S. military custody while an investigation is conducted on whether they were involved in attacks on security forces in Iraq, Johndroe said.

The U.S. military has not responded to requests for comment.

The Bush administration has long accused Iran of interfering in Iraq's affairs.

"We suspect this event validates our claims about Iranian meddling, but we want to finish our investigation of the detained Iranians before characterizing their activities," Johndroe said. "We will be better able to explain what this means about the larger picture after we finish our investigation."

President Bush's national security adviser, Stephen Hadley, and officials from the U.S. State Department and the Iraqi government are involved in the delicate discussions over the fate of the detainees, according to Johndroe.

Talabani's spokesman said the Iraqi president had invited the Iranian officials during his visit to Tehran. It was done "in the framework of an agreement to improve security in Iraq." The spokesman described the Iranians as "security officials."

Hosseini, the Iranian spokesman, said the Iraqi government is responsible for the Iranians' release because it invited them to Iraq and "the occupying forces must be answerable for international law based on their actions."

The arrests come amid escalating tensions between Washington and Tehran over Iran's nuclear program. The United States and other Western nations are concerned Iran is trying to build nuclear weapons. Tehran says it simply wants nuclear energy and refuses to halt its nuclear program.

The U.N. Security Council passed a resolution Saturday to impose sanctions against Iran for failing to suspend its nuclear program. In response, Iran said Sunday it had resumed centrifuge production at a nuclear plant and may drop out of the U.N. nuclear watchdog, the International Atomic Energy Agency. (Full story)

Original article posted here.