Iraq president protests US arrest of Iran diplomats

BAGHDAD, Dec 25 (Reuters) Iraq's president today protested the arrest by US forces in Iraq of two Iranian diplomats US officials say were seized during raids against Iranians suspected of planning attacks on Iraqi security forces.

Iran said the diplomats seized by the US military had been invited by the Iraqi government and warned that the move would ''provoke unpleasant repercussions'', a local news agency said.

''Two Iranian diplomats were detained by the Americans,'' said Hiwa Othman, media adviser for Iraqi President Jalal Talabani.

''The president is unhappy. He is talking to the Americans about it as we speak. The diplomats came to Iraq at the invitation of the president,'' Othman told Reuters. He said he was not aware if they had met with Talabani.

Talabani, a Kurd, travelled to Iran last month in the latest of a series of high-level contacts between the two neighbours. Washington accuses Shi'ite Iran of backing Shi'ite militias who are blamed for fuelling rampant sectarian violence in Iraq.

The US State Department said ''a small number'' of Iranian diplomats were among those initially detained in the raids, but that they were turned over to Iraqi authorities and released.

Several other Iranians remained in custody, it said.

''Our actions (to release the diplomats) were in no way dictated by pressure from the Iraqi government or any party in the government,'' it said in a statement. ''Our actions were instead in accordance with our international legal obligations.'' The New York Times yesterday said the US military was holding at least four Iranians in Iraq, including senior military officials, who were seized in two raids last week.

EVIDENCE Othman and an official in the Shi'ite-dominated government said they were not aware the diplomats had been freed.

''We are only aware of the arrest of the two diplomats. I don't think that there are any military officials,'' the Shi'ite official from the powerful Supreme Council for Islamic Revolution in Iraq (SCIRI) party told Reuters.

In Tehran, the ISNA student news agency said the Foreign Ministry had summoned the Swiss ambassador to Tehran to discuss the arrests.

The Swiss embassy represents US interests in Iran since diplomatic relations between Tehran and Washington were cut after the 1979 Islamic revolution.

''This move is not compatible with any international regulations and will provoke unpleasant repercussions,'' Foreign Ministry spokesman Mohammad Ali Hosseini said, ISNA reported.

A US military spokesman in Baghdad declined to comment and referred all questions to the Pentagon. There was no immediate comment from the Pentagon.

It was unclear what kind of evidence American officials possessed that the Iranians were planning attacks, and the officials would not identify those being held, the Times said.

One official said that ''a lot of material'' was seized in the raid but would not say if it included arms or documents that pointed to planning for attacks, the paper reported.

The Times said that one of the raids took place in the Baghdad compound of SCIRI head Abdul Aziz al-Hakim, one of Iraq's most powerful Shi'ite leaders, who travelled to Washington three weeks ago to meet President George W Bush.

US and Iraqi officials have long accused Iran of interfering in Iraq's affairs.

REUTERS SP PM2220