Posted on 01/14/2007 12:00:04 AM PST by HAL9000
TEHRAN, Jan 14 (Reuters) - Iran is demanding the immediate release of five Iranians held by U.S. forces in Iraq, a foreign ministry spokesman said on Sunday, adding that the five are diplomats.The five were arrested on Thursday in the northern Iraqi town of Arbil and the U.S. military has accused them of links to an Iranian Revolutionary Guard group that provides weapons to Iraqi insurgents.
"Americans should immediately release the five Iranians and pay compensation for the damages they caused to our office in Arbil," Mohammad Ali Hosseini told a weekly news conference, adding the five were "involved in consulate affairs".
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(Excerpt) Read more at research.tdameritrade.com ...
Come get 'em.
LBT
-=-=-
No, 444 days.
Maybe along about the time Uday, Qusay and Saddam are lacing up their ice skates in Hell...
Maybe sometime around then.
Chutzpah!
We should indeed release them...from 30,000 feet, sans parachutes.
Is it just me, or did it suddenly get a lot closer to Bomb O'Clock?
Let them micturate on a stout rope..
Breaking News on BBC
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/6260301.stm
Iran demands release of citizens
Iran has demanded the immediate release of five of its citizens held in a US military raid in northern Iraq, who it says are diplomats.
The five men arrested on Thursday in Irbil are accused by the US military of having targeted Iraqi and US-led coalition forces.
But Iran's foreign ministry says they were "involved in consulate affairs".
Iran also demanded compensation for damage to the Iranian liaison office where the men were seized.
The US military says the men are agents of the Iranian Revolutionary Guards, a group whom the US says is seeking to destabilise Iraq by supplying weapons to insurgents.
The US said the Iranians did not have diplomatic papers.
'Incorrect claim'
"Their activities were legal and in the framework of the law," Foreign Ministry spokesman Mohammad Ali Hosseini said in response to the allegations.
"What the Americans claim is incorrect. They want to create a climate that justifies their illegal action," he said.
The raid followed a warning by President George W Bush on Wednesday that the US would take a tough stance towards Iran and Syria, whom he accused of destabilising Iraq.
Tehran vehemently denies the charges.
The Revolutionary Guards unit, known locally as the Pasdaran, is a parallel military force with its own army, air force and navy.
It was set up to enforce and defend the principles of the 1979 Islamic revolution and answers directly to Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
No Dammit, 445 Days!
Tell ya what. How about we just trash up all your offices in Tehran real good to make it even?
And your nuclear power plants.
And a few other things.
You just have to one-up me, don't ya? : p
My guess is we will release them.
Why don't we just behead them and mail them back to Tehran?
We can release them, after 446 days. LOL!
wrapped in pigskins?
Might have.
Things could start to get very interesting.
It's time to see if Ahmadinejad's government is just all talk or if they're prepared to come through with any of the bazillion threats they've made over the last 18 months or so.
I'm hedging my bets and remaining in the region. ;-)
Like every military base in western Iran.
L
The SOTU speech is coming very soon. It'll be interesting to see if Iran gets mentioned and in what context.
I'm hoping it's something like: "My fellow Americans. We now have indisputable evidence that the Iranian regime is sponsoring terrorism in Iraq. Accordingly I have ordered strikes on Iranian military bases. These strikes will stop when no stone stands upon another."
L
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