Five Iranian diplomats kidnapped in the northern Iraqi city of Arbil in 2007, will be handed to the Iraqi government soon, an Iraqi source has unveiled.
"The Iraqi government is insisting that the diplomats should be handed to Iraq even sooner than the date the two countries [the US and Iraq] had earlier agreed on," the Iraqi official who spoke on condition of anonymity noted, IRNA reported.
In January 2007, US forces raided the Iranian Consulate in Arbil and arrested five diplomats, Press TV reported.
The source said that the diplomats were supposed to be handed to the Iraqi government within a week but at the Iraqi Prime Minister's insistence the US is to hand the diplomats over to Iraq "within a few days".
"The Iraqi government considers the Iranian diplomats as its guests," the source added.
He noted that the Iranian diplomats have not committed any crime.
By next week, the US will hand over 12,000 prisoners in its custody to Iraqi forces.