Tehran strongly condemns U.S. raid on Iranian consulate

Tehran Times
Jan. 14, 2007

TEHRAN -- The Iranian Foreign Ministry on Thursday summoned the Iraqi and Swiss ambassadors to protest a raid by U.S. troops on an Iranian consulate in Iraq.

U.S. troops stormed the Iranian Consulate in the northern Iraqi city of Irbil on January 11 and arrested six people. According to the U.S. military, one of the Iranians was freed on Friday.

“The U.S. troops’ action is a violation of international law since the arrested people were working there at the request and with the permission of the Iraqi government,” Foreign Ministry Director for Persian Gulf Affairs Jalal Firuznian told Iraqi Ambassador Mohammed Majid al-Sheikh.

“We expect the Iraqi government to act quickly to obtain the release of these people and to condemn the U.S. forces,” he stated, adding that the Iraqi government should not let the United States disrupt Iran-Iraq relations through its illegal actions.

“The responsibility for following up this issue and obtaining the release of the detained people lies in the first place with the Iraqi authorities and local Kurdish officials,” Firuznian stated.

In a separate meeting with Swiss Ambassador Philippe Welti, whose embassy houses the U.S. Interests Section in Tehran, Firuznian vehemently denounced the raid, calling it direct interference in Iran-Iraq relations.

Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Mohammad-Ali Hosseini said on Thursday that Iran considers the United States responsible for the raid. He told the Mehr News Agency that the arrests were in line with Washington’s aggressive policies toward Iran, adding, “Despite the slogans the U.S. government chants, in practice it is implementing different policies.”

Tehran is pursuing the issue through diplomatic channels, he explained.

Iraq Kurds condemn U.S. raid on Iranian consulate

The Kurdish regional government in northern Iraq -- normally a staunch supporter of U.S. policy in the region -- also condemned the raid and demanded the immediate release of all prisoners taken, AFP reported.

"The presidency and the government of the Kurdish region of Iraq express their disapproval of the operation against the Iranian consulate," said a statement from regional president Massud Barzani's office. The statement recalled that diplomatic premises were protected from attack under international protocols and accused U.S. forces of "damaging efforts to restore stability and security in Iraq."

Iraqi government spokesman Ali al-Dabbagh told reporters that Baghdad had asked the Americans to clarify who was arrested and why, confirming that the foreign ministry in Baghdad was investigating the matter.

"We need to identify who those people are and why they were arrested. We have an office in Arbil and the foreign ministry in Baghdad is working on this to find out exactly what happened," he said.