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| Iranian diplomat kidnapped in Iraq released | | |
Tehran, Apr 3,
An Iranian diplomat seized two months ago in Iraq by uniformed gunmen has been freed -- a move that suggested progress today in British efforts to win the freedom of 15 sailors and marines held by Iran.
Neither British, US nor Iraqi officials would say if the release of diplomat Jalal Sharafi was linked directly to Britain' efforts to gain its sailors' release. Britain has publicly sworn not to negotiate.
But the move seemed certain to increase the likelihood that Iran -- which has been highly agitated by its diplomats' detention -- would look more favorably on releasing some of the captured Britons.
British Prime Minister Tony Blair told reporters in Scotland that the next two days would be "fairly critical" to resolving the standoff over the navy crew, although he gave no details what he meant
In Baghdad, an Iraqi official said his government had exerted pressure on those holding the Iranian diplomat in order to gain his release. Sharafi was released yesterday and returned to Tehran today.
The Iraqi official would not say who had held the diplomat. But another senior Iraqi official said Sharafi had been held by Iraqi intelligence. Both Iraqi officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorised to release the information.
Sharafi was seized on February 4 by uniformed gunmen in Karradah, a Shiite-controlled district of Baghdad. Iran contended he had been seized by an Iraqi military unit commanded by US military forces -- a charge repeated by several Iraqi Shiite lawmakers.
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