Iraq sees possible thaw in ties as U.S. frees 9 Iranians

An Iraqi official said Friday that he expected another round of talks this month including his government and those of Washington and Tehran, after the U.S. military freed nine Iranians it had detained in Iraq.

Two of the Iranians released early Friday by the U.S. were among five men detained in January in an American raid in the northern Iraqi city of Irbil. The U.S. had said they were members of Iran’s elite Quds Force, which Washington suspects of aiding Shiite Muslim militias in Iraq and smuggling armor-piercing bombs into the country. Tehran has said the five men are diplomatic staff at its Irbil consulate.

The U.S. military identified the two as Brujerd Chegini and Hamid Reza Asgari Shukuh.

A statement from the military accompanying the nine men’s release said they no longer posed a security risk and were deemed to be of “no continued intelligence value.”

Some of the other Iranians had been held since 2004. They included two individuals who had been detained in the former Sunni Muslim insurgent hot spots of Fallouja and Ramadi, and two who were picked up during raids targeting Al Qaeda in Iraq operatives. The U.S. military has accused Iran, a Shiite-governed country, of supporting Sunni fighters too. Iran denies aiding any Iraqi militant groups.

The other three Iranians freed were picked up crossing into Iraq illegally or in other raids.

The nine men were handed to Iranian officials in Baghdad and were flown to Tehran on Friday morning.

Iraqi Foreign Minister Hoshyar Zebari said that following the U.S. move, Iraq was planning to ask Iran and the United States to participate in a fourth round of talks that began in the summer.

“It will help build confidence and enhance our dialogue between the United States, Iran and Iraq on security issues. I think we are going to call for another round of talks soon this month,” he said.

“From the beginning . . . the Iraqi government has been calling for the U.S. military and U.S. Embassy to release them. Now they have released nine of them,” Zebari said in an interview.

In late September, Army Gen. David H. Petraeus, the top U.S. commander in Iraq, said Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri Maliki had received assurances from Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad that Tehran would work to help cut off any cross-border support to extremist militiamen.

Zebari said that it seemed Iran had exerted its influence on Shiite militants to lower the level of violence. On Nov. 2, U.S. Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates noted a drop in bomb attacks by Shiite militants, but said he needed more time to determine whether it was the result of Iran’s influence.

This week, an American military spokesman in Iraq said there were 20 Iranians in U.S. custody. A Defense Department official said this week that releasing some of them could help ease tensions with Iran. State and Defense Department officials have expressed concerns that another U.S.-led arrest of Iranians or a border incident could spark a broader conflict between the two countries.

The remaining Iranian detainees include a suspected member of the Quds Force picked up in Sulaymaniya, in Iraqi Kurdistan, in September and three others, also detained in January’s Irbil raid.

In addition to their differences over Iraq, Tehran and Washington are at odds over Iran’s nuclear program. The United States suspects that Iran is trying to develop nuclear weapons. Iran says its goal is to generate electricity.

The U.S. and Iran have participated in two security meetings with Iraqis since summer, but those talks yielded little. At a third round, Washington and Tehran did not meet directly. U.S. Ambassador Ryan Crocker said last month that he thought another round of talks could be held soon.

Elsewhere, an explosion Friday in Diyala province, northeast of Baghdad, killed Sheik Fayez Lafta inside his home near the town of Khalis, the U.S. military reported.

Lafta, a leader of the Obeidi tribe, had been involved in reconciliation efforts in Diyala, the military said. Two additional people were killed and another injured in the blast, it said.

ned.parker@latimes.com