Iran on Sunday vowed to exhaust allits potential to free five diplomats currently detained by the United States in Iraq, the official IRNA news agency reported.
Foreign Ministry spokesman Mohammad Ali Hosseini made theremarks at his weekly press conference while answering questionswhether the issue of the five diplomats would be discussed duringthe second round of Iran-U.S. talks on Iraq to be held in Baghdadin the near future.
"We use all our potentials and capabilities to seek the releaseof the five diplomats," said Hosseini.
Iran is going to hold a second round of talks with the UnitedStates on the issue of Iraq soon, but relations between the twofoes were still fazed by the detention of five Iranians seized bythe U.S. forces in a raid in northern Iraq in January.
Hosseini also denied recent reports that Iran had secret armsdeal with Syria, terming it as a media scheme.
The Arabic newspaper Asharq al-Awsat reported on Saturday thatIran had promised 1 billion U.S. dollars to Syria for the latter'sadvanced weapons procurement and would help Damascus' nuclearresearch if it ceases moves to negotiate peace with Israel.
According to the report, the alleged deal was signed duringPresident Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's visit to Syria on Thursday.
Iran has close ties with Syria. Damascus backed Tehran duringthe 1980-88 Iran-Iraq war.
