Troops
raid Iranian offices in Iraqi city
US soldiers raided Iranian government offices in the Iraqi city of
Irbil today, hours after George Bush pledged to "seek out and
destroy" Iran's networks in Iraq. The troops stormed the building
at around 3am, arresting six Iranians and confiscating computers
and documents, two senior local Kurdish officials said. Irbil is
in the Kurdish-controlled north of the country.
Teheran responded to the raid by summoning the
ambassadors of Iraq and Switzerland. The latter represents US
interests in Iran, where there is no US embassy. A spokesman for the
Iranian foreign ministry said the raid was intended to "create
tension" between Iraq and its neighbours, adding that the raided
office was an official diplomatic mission.The raid came as the US
secretary of state, Condoleezza Rice, reiterated Mr Bush's
warning to Iran to end its destabilising interference in Iraq.
"The president made very clear last night that
we know that Iran is engaged in activities that are
endangering our troops, activities that are destabilising the young
Iraqi government, and that we're going to pursue those who
may be involved in those activities," she told Fox News. The US
military issued a statement saying it had taken six people into
custody in the Irbil region, but made no mention of a raid on
Iranian offices.
However, a senior US military official at the
Pentagon, speaking anonymously, told the Associated Press that the
office targeted was not a consulate and did not have diplomatic
status.General Peter Pace, the chairman of the US joint chiefs of
staff, said Iran appeared to be responsible for arming
insurgents in Iraq. "I think it's instructive that in the
last couple of weeks two of those raids that we conducted to go
after these folks that are providing these kinds of weapons, two of
those raids had policed up Iranians," he said. "So it is
clear that the Iranians are complicit in providing weapons.
And it's also clear that we will do all we need to do to defend our
troops in Iraq by going after the entire network, regardless of
where those people come from." [...]
The raid came shortly after Mr Bush
rejected the Iraq Study Group's recommendation to open diplomatic
channels to Iran and Syria in an effort to end the growing violence
in Iraq.In his speech last night, he accused both of "allowing
terrorists and insurgents to use their territory to move in and out
of Iraq". "We will interrupt the flow of support from Iran and Syria,"
he said. "And we will seek out and destroy the networks
providing advanced weaponry and training to our enemies in Iraq."
