DAR AL HARB/ISLAM - U.K./IRAN: BRITS ARE THINKING OF SPEAKING WITH IRAN, DIRECTLY, CONCERNING 4 ABDUCTED BRITS IN IRAQ

Britain could approach Iran over hostages

LONDON - Britain is considering a direct approach to Iran for help in discovering the whereabouts of four British security guards and a financial consultant abducted in Iraq, the Guardian newspaper said Monday.

The paper said the issue was raised at a meeting of the government’s crisis committee, Cobra, amid growing speculation that the five men were seized by supporters of the pro-Iranian Mahdi Army militia.

According to reports in Britain the whereabouts of the hostages, seized in a large-scale operation on May 29, are still unknown.

The theory that the kidnappers belonged to a rogue faction of the Mahdi army of the radical Shia cleric Moqtada Al Sadr, made it possible that they were operating under the influence of Iranian intelligence, the Guardian said.

‘We do not think that Al Sadr ordered this operation, but we are almost certain that some militia members who profess loyalty to him were involved,’ a senior foreign ministry official was quoted as saying.

He said that ‘the lack of organization and discipline’ within the Mahdi army’s ranks had allowed the Iranians to move in and bring some of Sadr’s fighters under their control.

‘They (the Iranians) want to show the US that they have influence over the Mahdi army, and that the US must come to them for help,’ the official told the Guardian.

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Mahdi Army serves ultimatum to Britain

The five Britons kidnapped in Iraq are safe and well but will not be freed unless the Mahdi Army militia’s demands are met, The Sunday Times newspaper said, citing a senior Iraqi government source.

Representatives of radical Shiite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr’s Madhi Army have demanded an end to assassination attempts on its leaders, the broadsheet said on its front page.

The militia also want British military patrols in the main southern city of Basra stopped and demanded the release of all Mahdi Army prisoners, including Sheikh Abdul Al Hadi Darraji, Sadr’s chief spokesman who was detained by American troops in January, said the weekly.
Armed men wearing police uniforms abducted the Britons in Baghdad.

No group has publicly claimed responsibility and Sadr’s office has firmly denied any involvement.

However, a senior Iraqi government source told The Sunday Times that Sadrist MP Bahaa al-Aaraji took a senior Mahdi mediator to Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri Al Maliki’s office.

The mediator said the Mahdi Army abducted the Britons in response to their leaders being targeted by coalition forces, according to the newspaper.

He said the Britons were “safe and sound” but would not be released until the Mahdi demands were met.

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Pertinent Links:

1) Britain could approach Iran over hostages

2) Mahdi Army serves ultimatum to Britain