U.S arrest of Iranians for flag waving angers Iran; Kurdish Iraq
U.S.-led forces detained six Iranians yesterday at a government office flying an Iranian flag, Iraqi officials and witnesses said.
Thursday, U.S. troops in the northern Iraqi city of Irbil detained six Iranians “suspected of being closely tied to activities targeting Iraqi and coalition forces,” a military statement said. Iran and the Kurdish regional government called for their release.
It raised tensions as U.S. President George W. Bush moves to isolate Iran and Syria as part of his new strategy to quell violence in Iraq. President Bush’s warnings to Iran and Syria to not interfere in Iraq and the arrest of six Iranians in Iraq by U.S. troops raised eyebrows Thursday on Capitol Hill, where senators warned Bush against widening the nearly four-year-old war.
Sen. Joseph Biden, the chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, warned Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice that Bush did not have the authority to send U.S. troops on cross-border raids.
“I believe the present authorization granted the president to use force in Iraq does not cover that, and he does need congressional authority to do that,” Biden, D-Delaware, said during a Thursday hearing on Iraq.
The arrests in the northern city of Irbil, the second targeting Iranians in less than a month, drew condemnation from the regional Kurdish government and concern from national officials as they try to balance Iraq’s close ties with Iran and the rivalry between Tehran and Washington.
raq’s state-run television network, Al-Iraqiya, said the forces raided an “Iranian consulate,” but the Iraqi Foreign Ministry described the building as a “diplomatic representation.”
Other news reports in Iran are referring to the incident as a kidnapping that coincided with President Bush’s announcement of his new military strategy in Iraq.
Last month, the U.S. military arrested at least four Iranians in raids in Iraq, including two diplomats, prompting Iraqi President Jalal Talabani to express dismay. A U.S. official said those Iranians were suspected of involvement in attacks against U.S. forces.
Top U.S. officials reiterated longstanding accusations that Iran is helping to fuel the violence in Iraq with weapons and money.
“I think it’s instructive that in the last couple of weeks two of those raids that we conducted to go after these folks that are providing these kinds of weapons; two of those raids had policed up Iranians,” Gen. Peter Pace, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said in Washington. “So it is clear that the Iranians are complicit in providing weapons.”
In Tehran, Iran’s Foreign Ministry summoned the Iraqi and Swiss ambassadors and “demanded an explanation” about the incident. Switzerland represents American interests in Iran, where there is no U.S. embassy.
CNN
edmontonsun
CNN
Stumble it!