Fars News reported today that the Iranian government will be submitting lawsuits to the U.N. over the 2007 kidnapping of five diplomats in Iraq by U.S. soldiers. Iran’s Speaker of the Parliament, Ali Larijani, said.
Americans are guilty for imposing physical and psychological pressures on the Iranian diplomats and putting them in solitary confinement for a long period of time… Definitely, the Islamic Consultative Assembly (parliament) and the parliament’s National Security and Foreign Policy Commission will pursue the case through filling a complaint at the UN.
The men were arrested during a U.S. raid on an Iranian consulate in the Kurdish city of Arbil in northern Iraq. U.S. soldiers also seized computers and documents during the raid. The action was the result of then President Bush’s decision to target Iranian interests that were believed to be funneling money and supplies to anti-U.S. militias.
The five men captured were held for thirty months before being released. Iran has repeatedly stated that the men were diplomats. It is unclear whether Iran’s decision to file lawsuits is meant to take the spotlight off of the outcome from last week’s Geneva talks, or if this has been a long time in the making.