UK: Iranians 'up to no good' in Iraq (BBC)

Last Updated: Thursday, 4 January 2007, 22:50 GMT

Iranians 'up to no good' in Iraq

Five Iranians arrested by US troops in Baghdad last month were on a covert
mission to influence Iraq's government, British officials have told the BBC.

The five men were senior intelligence officers "up to no good", an unnamed
official told the Newsnight programme.

The arrests caused a diplomatic row when it became clear that the Iranians,
who have since been released, had been invited by the Iraqi government.

-snip-

They said that the arrested men were in Iraq to hold high-level meeting with
representatives of several Iraqi Shia factions.

"There was discussion of whether the (Prime Minister Nouri) Maliki government
would succeed, who should be in which ministerial jobs," one official told the
programme.

-snip-