BAGHDAD, Aug 29: US forces on Wednesday freed a group of Iranians including two diplomats who were seized at a Baghdad hotel overnight in what the military said was a “regrettable incident.” Tehran issued a protest over what it called the “unjustifiable” detention of the Iranians, who were taken by US troops from the Sheraton hotel in blindfolds and handcuffs after their convoy was stopped at a nearby checkpoint.

The seizure of the Iranians late on Tuesday came just hours after US President George Bush waged a new verbal attack on Tehran, and was likely to further exacerbate tensions between the arch-foes.

Bush said he had ordered his military chiefs in Iraq to confront Iran's “murderous activities,” labelling the Islamic republic the world's leading sponsor of state terrorism.

But Saadi Othman, an adviser to the US commander of troops in Iraq, Gen David Petraeus, described the detention as “regrettable.” “Nothing was intended, and once we found out from the Iraqi government that they were Iranian officials, we released them,” Othman told BBC television.

Tensions between the two foes have been running high over Iran's contested nuclear drive and claims by the United States that Tehran is stoking the violence in Iraq by training and arming militia groups.

Iran lodged a formal complaint with the Swiss embassy in Tehran, which represents US interests there, saying the Iranians were members of an energy ministry delegation in Baghdad for talks on building a power plant.

“The foreign ministry summoned the Swiss charge d'affaires ... and expressed a strong protest at this unjustifiable approach that is against international law, and demanded a US explanation,” the ministry said.

Iraqi and Iranian officials said seven Iranians had been seized, while the US military it detained eight after stopping them at a checkpoint and finding unauthorised weapons and later finding a briefcase full of money at the hotel.

It is the second such action by US troops since January, when five Iranians working in the northern Kurdish city of Arbil were seized for allegedly aiding the anti-American insurgency. They are still in US military custody.

The US military said the Iranians were travelling with Iraqi guards in a four-vehicle convoy were stopped at a checkpoint where troops confiscated an AK-47 rifle and two pistols in the possession of the Iraqis.

“The Iraqis serving as a protective detail had identification but no weapons permits and also had Iranian money,” the military said.

The group was allowed to go to the hotel but US soldiers followed them and searched their rooms where they “confiscated a laptop computer, cellphone and a briefcase full of Iranian and US money,” it said.

It said they were then taken for questioning to a military facility, where two were found to be carrying diplomatic credentials, and they were all later released.

A Sheraton employee said the Iranians, including a woman, were taken as they were eating dinner at a hotel restaurant.

“Later the soldiers blindfolded the Iranians and took them along with their Iraqi bodyguards,” he said. “There was no trouble. Everything was very quiet.” US military spokesman Brigadier General Kevin Bergner said the detainees had been handcuffed and blindfolded as “standard procedure.” —AFP