Promoted by Steven D, with some minor changes. Nothing in Oui’s diary has been omitted, but I’ve moved most of it below the fold to conserve space on the front page. It is an incredibly serious and breaking news story, however, and deserves front page attention.
(cont.)
ARBIL, Northern Iraq (AFP) 40 min. ago – US troops have raided Iran’s consulate in the northern Iraqi city of Arbil and arrested five employees, an Iranian diplomat said on condition of anonymity.
“We don’t know the reason for this,” the diplomat said of the raid, which came amid mounting US accusations that Iranian agents are fomenting unrest in Iraq and ordering attacks on American forces. “The Americans arrested five employees and took all the computers and documentation,” the Iranian official said.
The Iranian consulate building in Arbil, which is the capital of Iraq’s autonomous Kurdish region, was sealed off by Kurdish security forces, according to an AFP correspondent at the scene.
Iraq and Iran reached agreement last year to set up an Iranian consulate at Arbil to facilitate cross-border visits by their citizens.
According to Iranian state television, permission had been granted by the Kurdish authorities for the consulate to commence operations and the office was currently “in the final stages of receiving permission from the Iraqi government”.
BAGHDAD, Iraq (CNN) Dec. 25, 2006 – Iraqi and Iranian authorities slammed the United States for having arrested several Iranians who were visiting Iraq.
A U.S. official said the Iranians were suspected of involvement in attacks against Iraqi security forces.
Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Seyyed Mohammad Ali Hosseini warned that “this action is not justifiable by any international rules or regulations and will have unpleasant consequences,” Iran’s semi-official Mehr news agency reported.
A spokesman for Iraqi President Jalal Talabani said Talabani had invited the Iranians to the country, and the president was “unhappy” about the arrests.
Iraqi President Jalal Talabani had inviited Iranians to visit his country while in Tehran.
The U.S. National Security Council confirmed that the American military arrested at least four Iranians in raids during the past week in Iraq, including two diplomats.
Another US military spokesman, Major General William Caldwell, said on December 27 that US forces had detained two Iranian nationals among eight people rounded up on suspicion of weapons smuggling in a raid in Baghdad.
The two Iranians were later handed over to Iranian officials in Baghdad.
TEHRAN, Iran (Fars News Agency) Jan. 7, 2007 – The United Arab Emirates’ Foreign Minister Abdallah bin Zayid al-Nuhayyan termed rumors and reports about Arab states’ assistance with a possible attack on Iran as unwise and insane.
Speaking to reporters during a joint press conference with his Iranian counterpart Manouchehr Mottaki here, al-Nuhayyan lauded the two countries’ extensive relations, and said that the United Arab Emirates and Iran are due to expand mutual cooperation through forming joint committees and encouraging more investments in the two countries.
The top diplomat further viewed Iran’s relations with the Persian Gulf Cooperation Council (PGCC) as historical, and underlined that regional nations are profoundly interested in developing ties with Iran due to the strong bonds existing between the Iranian and regional nations.
He also said that during his meeting with Mottaki, the two sides have discussed cooperation in areas of energy and trade, and mentioned that both countries are zealously pursuing development of mutual relations.
"But I will not let myself be reduced to silence."