By Xinhua
Baghdad : The U.S. forces on Wednesday released seven members of an Iranian delegation detained on Tuesday night at a hotel in Baghdad, an Iranian diplomat said.
One of the released delegation members has contacted the Iranian embassy in Baghdad early Wednesday morning, saying that he and his colleagues have been handed over to the Iraqi authorities, the diplomat told reporters on condition of anonymity.
Iran’s official IRNA news agency said late on Tuesday that the detainees are official delegation members, who work for the power ministry, and were at the invitation of Iraqi government officials to sign an electricity supply contract.
The U.S. military said that they detained some Iranian citizens with Iranian passports and their Iraqi escorts at a checkpoint in the Abu Nuwas market on the east side of central Baghdad.
The troops stopped several vehicles and found that some Iraqi individuals were holding unlicensed weapons, the military said.
On Jan. 11, U.S. troops arrested five Iranians in the northern Iraqi city of Arbil. The military said they were suspected of being closely tied to Iran’s elite Quds Force, which is accused of arming and training Iraqi militants.
The Iranians denied any accusation that it was involved in violence of the war-torn country.
On Tuesday, U.S. President George W. Bush accused Iran of meddling in Iraq’s affairs and inciting violence in the country.
“I have authorized our military commanders in Iraq to confront Tehran’s murderous activities,” said Bush, referring to Iranian involvement in arming Shiite militias in Iraq.
“The Iranian regime must halt these actions.”