April 05, 2007	Thursday	Rabi-ul-Awwal 16, 1428

TEHRAN, April 5: An Iranian representative is to be allowed to meet five Iranians who have been held in Iraq by US forces since January, Iran’s official IRNA news agency said on Wednesday.

The United States says the five are linked to Iran’s hardline Revolutionary Guards and says they were providing support to militants in Iraq. Tehran denies the charge and says the men are diplomats.

Iraq said it had handed a request for such a meeting to the US embassy about two weeks ago. There was no immediate confirmation of the report from US officials.

“With the continuous efforts of Iran’s embassy in Iraq, the cooperation of the Iraqi officials and the help of the UN representative, Iran’s representative is supposed to meet our country’s diplomats,” a “reliable source” was quoted by IRNA as saying.

Some analysts say the Revolutionary Guards who seized 15 British sailors and marines on March 23 in the northern Gulf may have been acting partly to send a message that Iran would not remain idle while its citizens were detained in Iraq.

Iranian officials dismiss any link between the Britons and the five Iranians in Iraq. Britain and the United States have said they would not get involved in negotiations over any swaps.

“I have passed that request (for the Iranians to see the detainees) to the US embassy around two weeks ago and said that it will be a sign of good will if it happens,” Iraqi Foreign Minister Hoshiyar Zebari said.

IRNA quoted the source as saying the “illegal arrest has political roots”.—Reuters