A raid by US troops on an Iranian office in Iraq was "absolutely unacceptable" and violated international law, Russia's foreign ministry has said. The raid Thursday in the northern Iraqi city of Arbil was "absolutely unacceptable" and "the crudest possible violation of the Vienna convention on consular relations," ministry spokesman Mikhail Kamynin said in a statement.
The statement referred to the raid as being directed against "the Iranian consulate general" and described five Iranians arrested as "diplomats."
Iraq's foreign minister, Hoshyar Zebari, denied this Friday, saying that the Iranians had been working officially in Iraq but as part of a "liaison office" that was yet to be classified as a consulate with diplomatic protection.
The swoop by US troops triggered a diplomatic row, with Tehran accusing the US force of violating the building's diplomatic status.
Kamynin also expressed scepticism over US President George W. Bush's new Iraq strategy and troop buildup, saying the plan amounted to admitting mistakes in the campaign.
"We are talking about recognition of the need to correct the previous course, based on thinking over mistakes made in Iraq that we had previously pointed out to our American colleagues," Kamynin said.
However, Bush's new plan, which centres on deploying an additional 21,500 soldiers to Iraq, shows the "calculation remains as it was -- to resolve the Iraqi crisis through force," Kamynin said.
Whether this will work, "time will show," he said, adding that the only solution was to foster a "broad and real inter-Iraqi dialogue."
