April 06, 2007	Friday	Rabi-ul-Awwal 17, 1428

WASHINGTON, April 5: US Defense Secretary Robert Gates said on Thursday the United States had no plans to release five Iranians captured in Iraq and accused of supporting Iraqi insurgents.

Gates rejected speculation that the United States was preparing to release the group or allow consular access to them as part of a deal under which Iran released 15 British sailors and marines accused of entering Iranian waters.

“I think there's no inclination right now to let them go,” Gates told reporters in Washington when asked about the fate of the five Iranians captured by US forces in Iraq and held since January.

“Iraqi government officials and US officials are discussing if there's some way, perhaps, that there could be some kind of Iranian access to them,” he said. “But as far as I know, there's no requirement for that.”

“I don't think that consular access is being considered. I think the issue is whether there's some other means by which some other access might be given,” he added.

Gates' comments appeared to fall short of a statement by US military spokesman Major General William Caldwell, who told reporters in Baghdad that a consular request to visit the five Iranians was “being assessed.” Washington has been at pains to deny any link between the release of the British troops and any access to the five detained Iranians.

US President George W. Bush said Tuesday he agreed with British Prime Minister Tony Blair “that there should be no quid pro quos when it comes to the hostages.” State Department spokesman Tom Casey said Wednesday that there was “no link whatsoever” between the two cases, while Blair insisted there had been “no negotiation” to secure the freedom of the captured Britons.

The five Iranians were arrested by US forces in the northern city of Arbil, in Iraqi Kurdistan, on Jan 11. US officials accused the men of being members of the elite Al-Quds brigade of Iran's Revolutionary Guards.

US officials have remained vague about the fate of the five, declining to say where they are being held. “They are being treated as any other security detainee in Iraq,” State Department spokesman Sean McCormack said on Tuesday.

“They are being detained because they were involved in networks that were providing EFDs (explosive foreign devices) to individuals in Iraq for using those EFDs against our troops.”Tehran has said the five were diplomats working in a consulate office in Arbil -- comments that Iraqi Foreign Minister Hoshyar Zebari seemed to support in an interview with the New York Times on Thursday.

He said that the men were operating with the knowledge of the Iraqi government and were not involved in any sort of “clandestine operation.” They were known by us. They were under surveillance by regional security. They operated with the approval of the regional government and with the knowledge of the Iraqi government.

“We were in the process of formalising that liaison office into a consulate. Then they would have diplomatic immunity,” he said.

Washington and Tehran broke diplomatic ties almost 27 years ago and US interests in Iran are conducted via Switzerland.—AFP