Iran accuses US over seized diplomat

Gunmen wearing Iraqi uniforms seized an Iranian diplomat in central Baghdad at the weekend, the government in Tehran said today, blaming the kidnapping on troops acting on US orders.

Jalal Sharafi, the second secretary at the Iranian embassy, was seized on Sunday by forces operating "under the supervision of the American forces in Iraq", an Iranian foreign ministry spokesman said.

"The Islamic Republic of Iran strongly condemns this aggressive act, which is in violation of international law," the official Islamic Republic News Agency quoted the spokesman as saying.

"Iran holds American forces in Iraq responsible for the safety and life of the Iranian diplomat."

However, a US military spokesman denied that any of the country's troops, or Iraqis reporting to them, had been involved and said he could not even confirm that the incident had taken place.

"We've checked with our units and it was not an MNF-I [Multi-National Forces - Iraq] unit that participated in that event," Lieutenant Colonel Christopher Garver said.

The incident threatens to further escalate tensions between the US and Iran. Washington accuses Tehran of providing significant support to Shia militants fighting US forces in Iraq - an accusation it vehemently denies.

Last month, US forces detained five Iranians in northern Iraq, accusing them of having links to an Iranian military faction blamed for funding and arming Iraqi militants. Iran insisted they were diplomats and should be released.

An official at the Iranian embassy in Baghdad said Mr Sharafi had been travelling to check on the planned opening of an Iranian bank in the central Karradah area of Baghdad when he was seized by men wearing Iraqi army uniforms.

An Iraqi government official said Iraqi soldiers in two vehicles intercepted the diplomat's car, put him in one of their vehicles and drove off.

Iraqi police, apparently suspecting a kidnap attempt, opened fire on the second vehicle and detained the occupants, who were released into Iraqi military custody yesterday.

According to the Iraqi official, the detained troops were part of an army unit that receives direct orders from the US military.

A US embassy spokesman in Baghdad said he could not confirm the reports. "There appear to be conflicting accounts of this alleged incident, and we are in the process of trying to determine the facts," he added.

The White House has also authorised US troops in Iraq to kill or capture Iranian agents deemed to be a threat.

It claimed there was growing evidence that Iran was supporting terrorists inside Iraq and was a major supplier of bombs and other weapons used to target US forces.