Iraq's foreign minister said he was seeking the release of five Iranians seized by US troops in the Iraqi Kurdish city of Arbil yesterday.
The Iranians were seized by US troops from a representative office of the Tehran government.
"What happened . . . was very annoying because there has been an Iranian liaison office there for years and it provides services to the citizens," Hoshiyar Zebari, who is himself a Kurd, told Al-Arabiya television.
"We are in contact with the (US) embassy and the American forces to seek their release."
After the autonomous Kurdish regional government, one of Washington's closest allies in Iraq, issued a strong condemnation of the raid, the US military made a statement today saying one of six people arrested had been released.
Iranian and Kurdish officials have identified those arrested as Iranians working in an office that represents the interests of the Tehran government, which the United States accuses of backing Shia militias and fomenting violence in Iraq.