US, Iran spar over detainees at Baghdad meeting

BAGHDAD, Mar 10 (Reuters) US and Iranian delegates to a regional conference in Baghdad aimed at promoting peace in Iraq sparred over the fate of five Iranians detained by US forces earlier this year who Tehran says are diplomats.

Today's conference was a rare opportunity for officials from Washington and Tehran to sit down at the same table at a time of tension over Iran's nuclear ambitions. There was no immediate information on whether they had held bilateral talks.

Washington has led international efforts to impose tougher sanctions on Iran over its refusal to stop enriching uranium, which could be used for nuclear weapons, and has accused Iran of backing Shi'ite militias in southern Iraq. Tehran denies both.

A source at the multilateral talks said Iranian delegates used the forum to demand the release of several Iranians captured by US forces in Iraq in recent months.

US soldiers seized five men Tehran says are diplomats in a raid on an Iranian government office in the northern Iraqi city of Arbil on Jan. 11.

The raid came hours after US President George W Bush pledged to crack down on what he called the ''flow of support'' from Iran to Iraqi militants. The arrests were the second such incident in a month.

US Ambassador Zalmay Khalilzad, in a speech to the conference, urged Iraq's neighbours and other world powers to do more to help Iraq. Apparently responding to the Iranian concerns about the detainees, Khalilzad said: ''The Coalition does not have anyone in detention who is a diplomat.'' ''The US and Coalition forces will continue to take appropriate steps under our mandate to protect Iraq's citizens, and our soldiers, from foreign elements who are contributing to violence in Iraq,'' he said.

''No one should doubt our resolve in this regard.'' Washington, which has no diplomatic relations with Iran, has had contacts with Iranian officials in group settings, including as recently as September, but has resisted bilateral talks.

The Iranian delegation arrived in the conference hall and took their seats without making any direct contact with US delegates shortly before the meeting officially opened.

The head of Tehran's delegation said Iran sees the meeting in Baghdad as a ''test'' of whether the United States is serious in trying to solve Iraq's problems.

Abbas Araghchi, deputy foreign minister for legal and international affairs, said before leaving Tehran that the main aim was to help improve security and reconstruction efforts in violence-racked Iraq, the ISNA news agency reported.

''We are heading to the meeting just to help Iraq's government,'' he said.

REUTERS MS PM2103