Report says Iranian diplomat freed in Iraq

TEHRAN (Reuters) - An Iranian diplomat who was kidnapped in Iraq two months ago was released on Tuesday and has arrived back in Iran, Iran's official IRNA news agency reported.

Gunmen in Iraqi army uniforms kidnapped the diplomat, Jalal Sharafi, in February and Tehran blamed the U.S. military for his abduction. U.S. officials denied any involvement.

Iraq confirmed Sharafi's release but said it was not clear who had been holding him.

IRNA said Iraq's government was also working for the release of five Iranians held by U.S. forces since January. Tehran says the five are diplomats, but the U.S. military links them to an Iranian Revolutionary Guard group that provides weapons to Iraqi insurgents. Iran denies aiding insurgents.

"Jalal Sharafi, second secretary of Iran's embassy in Baghdad, who was kidnapped in Baghdad on February 4, was released on Tuesday," IRNA reported. He was welcomed by Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki when he arrived back in Tehran.

Iraqi Foreign Minister Hoshiyar Zebari said Sharafi was in good health when he was released. When asked who had snatched him, Zebari told Reuters: "Only he knows who was holding him."

"We made tremendous efforts to free him. All sides had denied holding him, which made it more difficult. But we kept the pressure up on everybody," he added.

An Iraqi government official said when Sharafi was seized that he was nabbed by 30 gunmen wearing the uniforms of an Iraqi army unit that often works with the U.S. military in Iraq.

U.S. forces in Iraq have arrested a number of Iranians in the past, including the five men Tehran who were seized from Iran's consulate in the northern city of Arbil.