Iran complains to UN over diplomats' arrest

Iran has complained to UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon about the arrest by US troops of five Iranian diplomats, who Washington says were helping militants in Iraq, state television reported yesterday. US soldiers seized the men in a raid on an Iranian...

Iran has complained to UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon about the arrest by US troops of five Iranian diplomats, who Washington says were helping militants in Iraq, state television reported yesterday.

US soldiers seized the men in a raid on an Iranian government office in the northern Iraqi city of Arbil on January 11, hours after US President George W. Bush pledged to crack down on the "flow of support" from Iran to Iraqi militants.

Washington regularly accuses Iran of encouraging violence in Iraq. Tehran dismisses the charge, countering that US forces are destabilising the country.

Iran's official news agency IRNA quoted the Iranian ambassador to Baghdad, Hassan Kazemi Qomi, as saying the Iraqi government had given assurances that the five diplomats would be released this week.

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