Manouchehr Mottaki said Iran is seriously pursuing the fate of the detained diplomats and urged Iraq to do the same, according to Iran’s state broadcasting company’s website.
"If their efforts do not yield results, it will undermine Iran’s aid to Iraq," the report quoted Mottaki as saying.
The United States detained five Iranians in the northern Iraqi city of Irbil in January and refused to release them or allow Iranian officials to visit the men.
Mottaki also criticized the UN Security Council for not responding to a letter he said Iran sent it to protest the US detention.
"The UN Security Council has refused to show appropriate action in cases like the diplomats’ abductions although it has repeatedly interfered in cases not related to its duties , under pressure from major powers," Mottaki was quoted on the website.
Iraq, which like Iran is majority Shi’ite, has found itself in a difficult position since the US-led invasion in 2003, trying to maintain good relations with its neighbor while not angering the Americans.
Iraq and Iran’s relations grew even more complicated last month when Iran captured a British navy crew, holding it captive for nearly two weeks. Britain, which has more than 7,000 troops in southern Iraq as part of the US-led coalition, patrols the Iraqi coastline in the Gulf. Iran said the British crew was in its waters, but Britain and Iraq maintain the capture took place in Iraqi territory.
In another sign of strained relations yesterday, Iran’s Foreign Ministry said the country had no plans to meet with US officials on the sidelines of the upcoming conference on Iraq, Iran’s state news agency, IRNA, reported.
The United States has accused Iran of providing money and weapons to Shi’ite militias in Iraq, while Iran has said that the presence of US troops is destabilizing the country. US officials have not commented on potential contact with Iran at the upcoming conference.
Iraqi Foreign Minister Hoshyar Zebari announced Saturday that the conference will be held in the Egyptian Red Sea resort of Sharm el-Sheik on May 3-4. But Mohammad-Ali Hosseini, an Iranian foreign ministry spokesman, said the date and location had not been decided and expressed Iran’s desire to hold the conference in Baghdad.
Iran also confirmed yesterday that it refused to allow the plane of Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki of Iraq to fly through Iranian airspace, IRNA reported, quoting Hosseini.