Baghdad, Nov 6 (Xinhua) Iran reopened two consulates Tuesday in the cities of
Arbil and Sulaimani in Iraqi Kurdistan, which were closed after US troops
arrested five Iranians from the Arbil consulate in January, the Iraqi National
News Agency (NINA) reported.
Kurdistan Prime Minister Nechirvan Barzani and the Iranian ambassador to Baghdad
Hassan Kazemi Qomi inaugurated the consulate office in Arbil, NINA reported
Tuesday.
"The two consulates will offer facilities for citizens of the region wishing to
visit Iran and develop trade relations between the two countries," Barzani was
quoted as saying in his speech during the reopening ceremony.
'We used to have two consulates in Arbil and Sulaimani but unfortunately the US
forces arrested five personnel from our consulate in Arbil who are still under
custody,' said Qomi, who termed the US arrests as 'illegal and violation to the
Iraqi sovereignty.'
US forces accused the five Iranians of being members of Iran's Revolutionary
Guards' elite Quds Force. Iran said the five were diplomats working in Iraq.
Later in the day, a US military spokesman said the American military would
release nine Iranians detained in recent months in Iraq, including two of the
five captured in January in Arbil.
"It is our intent to release nine Iranians, currently in custody, in the near
future," US military spokesman Rear Admiral Gregory Smith, told a news
conference in Baghdad's Green Zone.
"Two of the nine were detained in Arbil in January this year," he said, adding
that the other seven were arrested at various occasions in others areas of Iraq.
Previously, US officials accused Iran of training Shia militias in Iraq and
supplying them with weapons, including armoured piercing roadside bombs, but
Iran denies all the accusations.
