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The US military said on Tuesday that it would release nine Iranians being held in Iraq, including two of the so-called “Arbil five” arrested in January on suspicion of supporting armed militia in the country. 

“It is our intent to release nine Iranians currently in custody in the near future,” Rear Admiral Greg Smith, a US military spokesman, said at a press conference. “These individuals have been assessed to be of no continuing value, nor do they pose a further threat to Iraqi security,” he said. Another US military spokesman said that there were 20 Iranians held by the US-led multinational coalition in Iraq, including the nine who will soon be released. The US periodically reviews the cases of militant suspects in detention and may release them if they are deemed not to pose a security risk and do not have useful intelligence.

The arrest of the five, whom Iraqi officials said were employees at an unofficial Iranian consulate in the northern Iraqi city of Arbil, was a large source of contention between Iran and the US. Tehran insisted that they were diplomats. The US military said that the five were not accredited diplomats and were members of Iran’s Revolutionary Guard who were suspected of aiding Iraqi militants. Iranian diplomats complained about the detentions numerous times in talks with US diplomats in Baghdad earlier this year and the grievance may have contributed to Iran’s seizure of 15 British military personnel in March.

The US, in turn, accused Iran of providing arms and other support for Iraqi militia groups, a charge that Tehran denied. Recently, however, US officers said Iran might have cut back such support. “We hope to confirm in the coming weeks and months that Iran has been honouring its pledge [to improve security in Iraq and confirm] through further verification that the flow of munitions has indeed stopped,” Admiral Smith said yesterday. In another sign of a possible easing of tensions, an official in the northern Kurdistan region said yesterday that Iran had formally opened a consulate in Arbil. “Today the Islamic Republic of Iran opened its consulate office, after getting the approval of the federal government in Baghdad,” said Falah Mustafa Bakir, the regional Kurdistan government’s head of foreign relations. Meanwhile, US, Iraqi and Iranian diplomats are expected to meet again in the near future for the latest in a series of talks between the three parties on security in Iraq.
 
Iran’s government should hold direct talks with the US to avoid possible military action against the Islamic Republic, the country’s top dissident cleric said in a speech, Reuters reports from Tehran. Grand Ayatollah Hossein Ali Montazeri, an architect of Iran’s 1979 Islamic revolution, was among Iranian leaders who endorsed the 444-day occupation of the US embassy shortly after the revolution. The event led Washington to break diplomatic ties, which Grand Ayatollah Montazeri – who later fell out of favour for criticising Iran’s rulers – reportedly said should now be restored.
 
Source: FT