Iran waiting to see US-held Iranians in Iraq

Tehran, Apr 7: Iran has still not received a reply to a request to visit five Iranians held by US forces in Iraq, an Iranian official in Baghdad was quoted today as saying by Iran's ISNA news agency.

He also said Iran had yet to announce if Iranian Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki would hold direct talks on Iraq with US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, who U.S. officials say is open to such a meeting at multilateral talks due in May.

Washington accuses Iran of stoking violence in Iraq and in January detained five men it says were linked to Iran's Revolutionary Guards and backing militants. Iran insists they are diplomats, wants them freed and has requested access.

''There has been no reply to Iran's request (to meet them) but a UNrepresentative and the (Iranian) embassy are trying to carry out Iran's legal right for our consulate to meet them and make sure they are alright to ease the concerns of their families,'' the official at the Iranian embassy in Iraq said.

''In this regard, the Iraqi officials have repeated their previous comments and emphasise they will follow (the issue) but there have not been any results so far,'' added the official, who was not named by ISNA.

Washington has said it is considering the Iranian request.

An International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) team have visited the detained Iranians twice, a US military official said yesterday.

The Iranian official in Iraq suggested he was only aware of one such meeting last month and confirmed no Iranians were among the visitors. ''If there has been another meeting recently, they haven't informed us about it,'' he added.

The US State Department said on Thursday Rice was open to direct talks with Iran over its role in Iraq when she attends a meeting of Iraq's neighbours and world powers.

Iraq's Foreign Minister Hoshiyar Zebari said on Saturday the ministerial-level meeting would be held in Egypt in the first week of May.

Asked about a possible meeting during those talks between Mottaki and Rice, the Iranian official said such reports were ''propaganda pressure''.

''If this is true (about a meeting), Tehran will make the necessary announcements itself,'' he added.

REUTERS

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