US arrests, releases Iranians in Iraq

This sounds like an ugly, politically driven incident.

Four cars carrying the Iranians, as well as seven Iraqis, were stopped at a checkpoint Tuesday evening and then allowed to proceed to the nearby Sheraton Ishtar hotel, where they were later taken into custody and questioned, the military said.

Troops seized three weapons from the cars — an AK-47 assault rifle and two 9mm pistols that had been in the possession of the Iraqis in the group. The Iraqis were serving as a protective detail but had no weapons permits, the U.S. military said.

At the hotel later, U.S. troops confiscated a laptop, cell phones and a briefcase full of Iranian and American money in the hotel, the military said.

So, the sequence appears to be: Iranians (with Iraqi security) were delayed at a checkpoint, then allowed to pass. No big deal. Then, after the local US troops report the incident up the chain, they are ordered to go to the hotel to arrest the Iranians and seize everything they can find.

They were released this morning after the Iraqi government intervened saying they were invited to help with restoring electricity. The US military command called it "a regrettable incident."

All of this just happens to come the day Bush made a speech upping the rhetoric against Iran.

(BBC has video of the arrests. (AFP, NYTimes versions.))