U.S. may soon free 5 Iranians

Five Iranians imprisoned by U.S. forces in Iraq since January will probably be released in the next few weeks, according to some U.S. and Iraqi officials, a development that could help ease months of escalating conflict between Washington and Tehran.

The Iranians, who were seized on suspicion of spying during a raid in Irbil, in northern Iraq, are up for a six-month review of their cases at the end of June, the officials said.

The officials emphasized that no decision had been made, but said the review offered an opportunity to resolve an issue that has been a point of contention between the Bush administration and the regime in Tehran, and also a source of tension with U.S. allies in the Iraqi government.

The Iranians’ release would make it more likely that the recently started U.S.-Iranian dialogue on Iraq would continue. It could also encourage Iran to release four Iranian Americans, who hold citizenship in both countries, being held in Tehran on allegations of spying, Middle East experts said.

One senior Iraqi official, who declined to be identified because of the sensitivity of the issue, said in an interview that he expected the review of the men’s status would be completed by the end of the month and that he was hopeful they would be released.

A senior Bush administration official said the Iranians “could well” be released, but added that it wasn’t a “foregone conclusion.” The official was cautious in assessing whether the move would improve U.S.-Iranian relations, saying that Tehran’s reactions were hard to predict.

Another U.S. official said that though a decision hadn’t been made yet, “it looks now like we’re heading” toward release.

The captivity of the five Iranians “has really been a sore point in the relationship, and I think ending it could have a significant impact,” said Gary Sick, a Columbia University expert on Iran who was a longtime U.S. official.

The Bush administration has accused Iran of supporting attacks on U.S. forces in Iraq, and the five Iranians were alleged to be part of such meddling.

The group was detained in January, on the same day that President Bush laid out a new and more confrontational policy on Iran. U.S. officials seized computers and documents in the raid and said the men were intelligence agents, part of one of the alleged Iranian networks operating in Iraq that provide sophisticated explosives used in attacks on U.S. troops.

The raid provoked an immediate outcry from Tehran, which complained that the men were diplomats who deserved immunity, a claim U.S. officials disputed.

Also unhappy were officials of the Iraqi central government and Kurdish regional government, who said they weren’t given sufficient notice of the U.S. raid. Some Iraqi officials viewed the raid as a challenge to their sovereignty.

Iraqi President Jalal Talabani and Foreign Minister Hoshyar Zebari have called for the Iranians’ release, arguing that the United States needs to patch up relations with Iran.

Iranian officials have complained repeatedly about the imprisonment. Tehran officials brought it up when they detained 15 British naval personnel in the Persian Gulf in March and, more recently, as they arrested and jailed the Iranian Americans.

The five Iranian men are formally classified as “security detainees,” and are being held under the authority of Iraqi law and the United Nations Security Council resolution authorizing the international military force in Iraq, U.S. officials said. Under an agreement between the Americans and the Iraqis, the detainees’ status is to be reviewed at least every six months, they said.

Iranian officials have complained that Iranian diplomatic representatives have not been able to meet with the men.

U.S. officials say the detainees have met with representatives of the Red Crescent Society, a humanitarian group affiliated with the International Committee of the Red Cross. They said the men were also offered the opportunity to meet with family members, which they declined.

U.S. officials have repeatedly underscored that they are not linking their case to other issues, such as the imprisonment of the Iranian Americans or the long-running dispute over Iran’s nuclear program.

But analysts said resolution of the issue would at least remove an obstacle to Iranian cooperation, and might yield better results, such as the eventual release of the Iranian American prisoners.

David Pollock, a senior advisor on Mideast affairs at the State Department until early this year, said Iran believed itself to be in a strong bargaining position with the United States and probably would not make a major concession in response to release of the “Irbil five.”

“All by itself, it’s probably not enough to reach an understanding with Iran about anything,” he said. Nevertheless, he added, “it’s a positive step and it might encourage the Iranians to release the Americans.”

Pollock, a visiting fellow at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy, said that holding the five offered little further value for intelligence or deterrence. In this context, “it makes sense to try to trade them for something else,” he said.

He said a release could move forward the new ambassador-level talks with Iran.

The two countries’ envoys met in Iraq on May 28 for the first substantive and public discussions the United States and Iran have held in nearly three decades. There were no major breakthroughs.

paul.richter@latimes.com

zavis@latimes.com

Richter reported from Washington and Zavis from Baghdad.