Iranian Diplomats

The U.S. military Thursday freed five Iranians who had been held since 2007 on suspicion of aiding Shiite Muslim militants, handing them over to the Iraqi government before their planned departure for Iran. In a move likely to ease friction between Tehran and Washington at least on the issue of Iraq, the five were received by Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri Maliki at his office in Baghdad's fortified Green Zone before being handed over to the Iranian Embassy in the evening.

Iran's armed forces brought down a U.S. drone that officials said had violated the country's airspace along the eastern border, Iranian media reported Sunday. The aircraft suffered minor damage and was in the possession of the armed forces, according to an Iranian military official quoted by the official Islamic Republic News Agency. The North Atlantic Treaty Organization's U.S.-led force in neighboring Afghanistan said Iranian authorities might be referring to an unarmed U.S. reconnaissance plane that went missing during a mission in western Afghanistan late last week.

An Argentine judge asked Interpol to arrest four Iranian diplomats for alleged involvement in the 1994 bombing of a Jewish community center that killed 85 people in Buenos Aires, a judicial source said. The names on the arrest warrants were not immediately available, the source added. Israel and the United States have always said they suspected that Iranian-backed Middle Eastern guerrillas were behind the bombing. Iran has repeatedly denied any involvement.

A former Seattle journalist, who disappeared 19 days ago after traveling to Syria on an assignment for Al Jazeera television, arrived safely in Qatar on Wednesday, the news channel said. Dorothy Parvaz, a 39-year-old holder of American, Canadian and Iranian citizenship, arrived at the Arabian Peninsula home of Al Jazeera, on a flight from Iran after being out of touch for nearly three weeks, the station said. "She has been in contact with her family, and we are with her now to find out more about her ordeal over the last 19 days," a statement quoted an unnamed Al Jazeera representative as saying.

Iran ordered five British diplomats expelled in retaliation for the deportation of five Iranian diplomats from Britain. Iran's official news agency said the Britons were given one week to leave. Among those expelled was Edward Chaplin, Britain's No. 2 diplomat in Tehran. Chaplin was abducted May 28 and held for 24 hours by armed Revolutionary Guards. In response, Britain closed the Iranian consulate in Manchester and expelled the Iranian diplomats.

Four Iranian diplomats were expelled from Venezuela for allegedly trying to kidnap an Iranian political exile and his family seeking asylum here, the Foreign Ministry said. The Iranian Embassy denied the charges against the mid-ranking envoys but said they would leave Monday.

Afghanistan's ruling Taliban militia on Friday rejected an invitation from a U.N. envoy to negotiate an end to its border standoff with neighboring Iran. U.N. envoy Lakhdar Brahimi issued the offer in neighboring Pakistan in an attempt to ease tensions created by a massive troop deployment along the border that separates Iran and Afghanistan.

Iran's prime minister threatened Wednesday to retaliate for actions against Iranians in France, which he accused of pursuing "satanic policies" against his government. Hussein Moussavi gave no specifics in his remarks, which were broadcast on Tehran radio and monitored in Cyprus. Iran accuses French Customs agents of beating an Iranian diplomat last weekend.

Iraqi Kurds, among America's staunchest supporters, condemned the detention early Thursday of six Iranian diplomats during a raid by U.S. forces on the Iranian Consulate in the Kurdish city of Irbil. The Kurdish president and the regional government released a statement calling for the release of the six. The U.S. military said one of the diplomats was freed. "The U.S.

The U.S. military Thursday freed five Iranians who had been held since 2007 on suspicion of aiding Shiite Muslim militants, handing them over to the Iraqi government before their planned departure for Iran. In a move likely to ease friction between Tehran and Washington at least on the issue of Iraq, the five were received by Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri Maliki at his office in Baghdad's fortified Green Zone before being handed over to the Iranian Embassy in the evening.

Despite talk of war, officials of the United States and Iran have tried to get their messages out to each other through the wall of animosity between their two governments. Iranian officials have been reaching out, more modestly, in a bid to influence American public opinion. In a lengthy interview with The Times at his office here, Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Mohammed Ali Hosseini described Americans as peace-loving people who "hate violence." The career diplomat predicted that economic pressures, other military entanglements and public opinion would prevent the Bush administration and its successor from going to war against Iran.

U.S.-led coalition forces in southern Afghanistan recently intercepted Iranian-made weapons that were being shipped to fighters for the Taliban, historically regional rivals of Tehran, the Pentagon's top general said Tuesday. Marine Gen. Peter Pace, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said the munitions, which included mortars and C-4 explosives, were captured within the last month near the city of Kandahar, which serves as the military and administrative capital of the restive south.

Iraqi Kurds, among America's staunchest supporters, condemned the detention early Thursday of six Iranian diplomats during a raid by U.S. forces on the Iranian Consulate in the Kurdish city of Irbil. The Kurdish president and the regional government released a statement calling for the release of the six. The U.S. military said one of the diplomats was freed. "The U.S.

An Argentine judge asked Interpol to arrest four Iranian diplomats for alleged involvement in the 1994 bombing of a Jewish community center that killed 85 people in Buenos Aires, a judicial source said. The names on the arrest warrants were not immediately available, the source added. Israel and the United States have always said they suspected that Iranian-backed Middle Eastern guerrillas were behind the bombing. Iran has repeatedly denied any involvement.

In the first visit by an Iranian head of state to neighboring Afghanistan in 40 years, President Mohammad Khatami threw his support Tuesday behind the U.S.-backed government here but strongly criticized the American approach to the global war on terrorism. Apparently referring to the ongoing hunt by U.S.

President Bush told Iran on Thursday that it faces serious retribution from the United States if it tries to destabilize the new interim government in Afghanistan or provides a haven for fleeing terrorists. After months of tentative, post-Sept. 11 cooperation, Bush's sharp words raised questions about the future of what many U.S. officials had hoped was a budding relationship between the two countries.