Tehran - Iran on Friday urged the United States to
immediately release the remaining Iranian nationals still held in
Iraq, as nine freed Iranians arrived in Tehran.
The US forces have arrested Iranian nationals in recent months,
including five staff of the Iranian consulate in January in Arbil,
the capital of the autonomous Kurdish region, on charges of offering
assistance to armed groups in Iraq.
Iraqi officials earlier Friday handed over nine Iranians, detained
by US forces in Iraq, to Iranian embassy officials in Baghdad.
'Islamic Republic of Iran advises American officials to respect
the principles of consulate and human rights conventions and
immediately release the remaining Iranians,' Foreign Ministry
spokesman Mohammad-Ali Hosseini said in a statement carried by state
television IRIB on its website.
The US military in Iraq had on Tuesday said it would release the
nine Iranians from custody, including five that Tehran insists are
diplomats.
Two diplomats, Hamid-Reza Asgari and Moussa Chegini, had been
among the nine arrested in city of Arbil and released on Friday.
The nine were reunited with their families in Tehran on Friday
afternoon and officially welcomed by foreign ministry officials at
Imam Khomeini International Airport, a witness told Deutsche Presse-
Agentur dpa.
'Iran has constantly said the detained Iranians were innocent and
the US had no evidence against them,' Hosseini said in a statement
adding, 'the release of Iranians proved this fact that Americans
must set aside their unilateral stance in order to settle the
situation in Iraq.'
Washington has frequently accused Iran of inciting sectarian
violence in Iraq. Tehran denies the allegations and argues that the
personnel were diplomats, a claim rejected by the US.
© 2007 dpa - Deutsche Presse-Agentur 
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