Three Iranian diplomats briefly detained in Iraq

BAGHDAD, June 16 (Reuters) Three Iranian diplomats were briefly detained in Iraq, the US military said today, but it played the incident down as a simple curfew break while Tehran condemned it as the latest case of harassment.

Tension between the two longstanding foes is already high after the arrest earlier this year of five Iranians in northern Iraq, while Tehran is holding three US-Iranian citizens on security-related charges.

A US military spokesman said three Iranian diplomats were among a group of 10 people stopped by the Iraqi Army for driving in east Baghdad on Thursday, despite a curfew.

''After questioning, Iraqi officials verified three of the men held Iranian diplomatic passports and thus were released shortly thereafter to their embassy representatives,'' Lieutenant Colonel Christopher Garver said in a statement.

The Iranian foreign ministry said that this broke international rules and complained that their diplomats were questioned for hours by Americans.

''Three diplomats of Iran's embassy in Baghdad on their way back to Iran ... were arrested by Iraqi police forces,'' Iranian foreign ministry spokesman Mohammad Ali Hosseini was quoted in the Etemad-e Melli daily newspaper as saying.

''After that they were detained by the American forces and they have been interrogated for a couple of hours,'' he said.

However, Garver said that the only connection US troops had with the Iranians was because the Iraqi Army had taken them to a nearby US army base for questioning.

''The Iranians were picked up by Iraqis, transported by Iraqis, and their disposition was determined by Iraqis,'' he said.

The incident comes at a particularly tense time between the two countries, after Tehran vowed earlier this week to make the United States ''regret'' its arrest of five Iranians in the northern city of Arbil in January.

Tehran says they are diplomats, but Washington contends they were supporting militants operating in Iraq.

Relations are under intense strain because of Iran's disputed nuclear programme, which Tehran says is for peaceful ends but the West suspects is aimed at making atom bombs.

REUTERS HK PM1615