Zebari: Iran seeks meeting with kidnapped diplomats

Iraq's Foreign Minister Hoshyar Zebari said yesterday that in an official letter, Iran has called for arranging a meeting with Iranian diplomats who were kidnapped by US troops in northern Iraq.

A statement released by Iraq's Foreign Ministry, quoting Zebari, said that the official request of Iranian Embassy in Iraq to meet the kidnapped diplomats has been passed on to the US Ambassador to Baghdad Zalmai Khalilzad.

Zebari made no mention of the time this request was given to Khalilzad, nor the response of the US official.

The minister said that he is unable to promise the release of kidnapped Iranian diplomats, given that they were not arrested by Iraqi forces.

He said that his country's role in this case is limited to facilitating communication between Iran and the US to solve the problem.

An informed source said that the Iranian Embassy in Baghdad has called for meeting the kidnapped diplomats.

It added that such a meeting will be facilitated in future through pursuance of Iranian Embassy in Iraq, cooperation of Iraq's government and assistance of the United Nations representative in this country.

This is while the US rejected a meeting between senior officials of Iranian Embassy in Baghdad and the kidnapped diplomats.