Iran blamed America for the "terrorist" kidnapping of a Iranian diplomat in Baghdad today in the latest chapter of the two countries' increasingly hostile competition for influence in Iraq.

A spokesman for the Foreign Ministry in Tehran said that Jalal Sharafi, the second secretary of the Iranian Embassy in Baghdad, was abducted on Sunday by Iraqi troops acting "under US supervision" and that the Iranian Government expects Washington to organise his release.

"The Islamic Republic of Iran strongly condemns the terrorist act which runs counter to international regulations and the Vienna Convention," said Mohammad-Ali Hosseini.

"The Islamic Republic of Iran considers it a responsibility of US forces in Iraq to protect members of the diplomatic community, including Iranian diplomats, and will hold them responsible for obtaining the release of the abducted Iranian diplomat."

Expert View

In Baghdad, Tehran's influence is hard to see ... but that changes completely when you go to the South

Stephen Farrell, Middle East Correspondent, The Times

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BACKGROUND

• As Iraq suffers, eyes are turning to Iran

• Britain plays down claims of Tehran role

• Troops can kill Iranian agents in Iraq, says Bush

• Iran accuses US over envoy abduction in Iraq

• Comment: Iraq caught between superpowers near and far

Related Links

• Comment: Iraq caught between superpowers near and far

• As Iraq suffers, eyes are turning to Iran

• Blair says UK should not become 'soft' power

US military commanders in Baghdad have denied having any role in the disappearance of Mr Sharafi, who, according to the Iranian account, was on his way to the new Baghdad branch of the Iranian state-owned Bank Melli when he was ordered out of his car by gunmen in Iraqi military uniforms.

Iranian diplomats have said that the gunmen appeared to be members of the Iraqi 36th Commando Battalion, a special military unit that works closely with US forces in the capital and drove American vehicles. But a US military spokesman rejected the charge today.

"We are not aware of any mission that even resembles this incident,” said Lieutenant Colonel Christopher Garver, who added that he could not confirm whether the incident even took place.

Iraqi officials, speaking anonymously, have given conflicting versions of the episode, saying that policemen opened fire on gunmen who were thought to be abducting the Iranian envoy and that they had been captured. The men were later released to the Iraqi military. The US Embassy said it was still trying to piece together the various accounts.

The Iranian accusation is the latest in a series of tense exchanges and confrontations between US forces in Iraq and Iranian officials in the country, some of whom have been characterised by the American Government as agents intent on stoking sectarian conflict in the country.

Hassan Kazemi Qomi, the Iranian Ambassador to Iraq, said: “It seems that this terrorist act has been committed in the framework of Bush’s order and with the goal of escalating the confrontation with Iran."

Last November, General Michael Hayden, the director of the CIA, told the US Senate that Iran was pursuing a policy of supporting various competing Shia factions in Iraq "with a sense of dangerous triumphalism".

Soon afterwards, the US press reported that the Bush Administration had approved new, tougher measures against Iranian agents in Iraq, including the capture and assassination of members of Iran's Revolutionary Guard Command, of whom there are thought to be around 150 in the country at any one time.

Last month, President Bush's new security plan for Iraq accused Iran of "both lethal action and the burrowing of Iranian actors into Iraqi institutions" and promised to step up efforts to limit Tehran's influence in the country. Five Iranians, described by Washington as military agents, were detained in a raid on an Iranian government building in Irbil, northern Iraq.

Anger on both sides has grown against the backdrop of the continuing unease over Iran's nuclear ambitions. The UN Security Council is due to meet to discuss the latest measures aimed at halting Tehran's uranium enrichment programme later this month.

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