Eurasia Press & News
TEHRAN (Fars News Agency)- An Iranian foreign ministry official in a meeting with the Iraqi ambassador to Tehran here on Friday stressed that Baghdad should not allow the United States to interfere in Iran-Iraq relations.
During the meeting, the Foreign Ministry’s Director for the Persian Gulf Affairs voiced Iran’s strong protest at the invasion of the Iranian consulate general by the US troops and arrest of five mission staffers in Erbil in northern Iraq on Thursday, a statement released by the Foreign Ministry’s Information and Press Bureau reported.
“We expect the Iraqi government to take immediate measures to set the aforesaid individuals free and to condemn the US troopers for the measure,” the official stressed.
He further called on the Iraqi government not to allow Americans to intervene and disrupt Iran-Iraq relations through adoption of such self-centered and illegal measures.
“Following up on the case and releasing the arrestees is a responsibility of primarily the Iraqi government and then the local government and officials of the Iraqi Kurdistan,” the Iranian foreign ministry official reiterated, expressing the hope that the detained staffers would soon be set free as a result of intense efforts by the Iraqi officials.
For his part, Iraqi ambassador to Tehran expressed regret over the incident and pledged to pursue the case through the officials of his country.
