LONDON (Reuters) - A British official has said five Iranians arrested in Baghdad last month in a raid by U.S. forces were senior intelligence officers thought to be on a covert mission to influence the Iraqi government, the BBC reported.
Several Iranians -- including two diplomats who were later released -- were arrested by U.S. troops in the raid, which the BBC said occurred on December 21 in the compound of SCIRI head Abdul Aziz al-Hakim, one of Iraq's most powerful Shi'ite leaders.
"There were five senior officers in various Iranian intelligence organizations," the BBC's Newsnight television program, broadcast late on Thursday, quoted the unnamed official as telling it.
"It was a very significant meeting. These people have been collared, relatively speaking, up to no good."
Three intelligence officers had since been set free but the U.S. military continued to hold two others, the BBC said.
Britain's foreign ministry declined to comment on the report.
"We've always made clear it is vital that all Iraq's neighbors support Iraq as it develops its own security and democracy," a Foreign Office spokesman said.
"Anything that undermines the Iraqi government is unhelpful and any Iranian links to armed groups in Iraq are unacceptable."
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