U.S. forces say free eight Iranians held in Iraq

By Ross Colvin

BAGHDAD (Reuters) - U.S. forces said on Wednesday they had detained eight Iranians overnight and seized a suitcase full of money from their central Baghdad hotel but later freed them after consultations with the Iraqi government.

A media adviser to Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki, Yasin Majid, said the men had been members of an Iranian delegation invited to Iraq by the Ministry of Electricity to discuss construction of a new power plant.

The incident comes at a time of rising tensions between the two long-time foes, with U.S. officials stepping up accusations that Iran is supplying deadly weapons to Iraqi militias to kill U.S. soldiers, a charge Iran denies.

The U.S. military said in a statement that U.S. troops had stopped four vehicles and detained 15 people, the Iranians and their Iraqi bodyguards, on Tuesday night. They had seized an AK-47 rifle and two pistols belonging to the Iraqis.

The Iranians had then been allowed to travel on to their hotel, the Sheraton Ishtar in the city centre, but troops had followed shortly afterwards and entered their rooms.

"While there, Coalition Forces confiscated a laptop, cellphones and a briefcase full of Iranian and U.S. money," the statement said, adding that the men were then taken to a U.S. military facility for questioning.

"The Iranian nationals had passports. It was later determined that two of the Iranian individuals were carrying diplomatic credentials. The Iranian nationals were released in consultation with the government of Iraq," the statement said.

Iranian state television said the Iranian Foreign Ministry had summoned a Swiss diplomat in Tehran, who represents U.S. interests because the United States has no embassy there, and voiced Iran's "harsh objections" to the group's detention.

It quoted Foreign Ministry spokesman Ali Hosseini as saying: "What the Americans did at the Sheraton hotel is unexplainable."

Videotape of the arrest showed U.S. troops leading 10 men, blindfolded and handcuffed, from the hotel.

U.S. President George W. Bush spoke harshly about Iran in a speech on Tuesday, saying it has weapons programs that threaten the Middle East with a "nuclear holocaust".

U.S. forces have separately been holding five Iranians since January that they say were providing support to militants.

The military says the five are agents of Iran's Revolutionary Guards Qods force, but Iran insists they are diplomats and has demanded their release.

U.S. generals say Iran is seeking to influence debate on the war in Washington by boosting its support for Shi'ite militias ahead of a report on political and military progress in Iraq due to be presented to the U.S. Congress in two weeks' time.

U.S. ambassador Ryan Crocker formally outlined the U.S. accusations of Iran's meddling in Iraq during two rounds of talks with his Iranian counterpart in Baghdad in May and July.