Iran: U.S. will regret “kidnapping” our officials in northern Iraq

Iran Focus: Tehran, Iran, Feb. 09 – In a veiled threat to the United States, Iran’s former president Ayatollah Ali-Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani said on Thursday that Washington would “regret” having “kidnapped” Iranian “diplomats” in the northern Iraqi city of Irbil. Iran Focus

Tehran, Iran, Feb. 09 – In a veiled threat to the United States, Iran’s former president Ayatollah Ali-Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani said on Thursday that Washington would “regret” having “kidnapped” Iranian “diplomats” in the northern Iraqi city of Irbil.

“The raid by the U.S. on Iran’s diplomatic mission and the kidnapping of Iranian diplomats was a big mistake by America. It will regret this action in the future”, Rafsanjani, who currently chairs Iran’s State Expediency Council (SEC), said. His remarks were reported by the government-run news agency Mehr.

Five Iranians who were captured on January 11 in Iran’s “liaison office” in Irbil are still in the custody of U.S. forces. Washington says that the five are members of the extra-territorial wing of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC), known as the Qods Force.

“The West does not want to accept a power which intends to be its equal”, Rafsanjani said in an apparent reference to the Islamic Republic.

“Some Western states intend to bring about the downfall in any way possible of countries in the region, in particular around the Persian Gulf, which have vast energy resources”, he claimed.

“They are trying to prevent us from progressing. This is a real challenge between the Islamic World and the West”, he added.