ARAB-IRANIAN RELATIONS - May 17 - Iraqi Prisoners To Be Released.

'IRNA' reports Iran will next week unilaterally free 460 Iraqi prisoners it captured during its 1980-1988 war with Iraq. The agency says the prisoners of war will be handed over to the International Committee of the Red Cross on May 23 to mark the anniversary of the liberation of Khorramshahr, a key Iranian port city, from Iraqi forces in 1982. The head of Iran's special commission on prisoners of war, Brig. Gen. Abdullah Najafi, is quoted as saying the ICRC promised to discuss with Iraqi officials the fate of 3,206 Iranian soldiers Tehran believes are still held in Iraqi prisons. On May 16, the ICRC said nearly 5,000 Iraqi prisoners have refused to return to Iraq and were granted asylum by Iran. On May 16, Najafi revised that figure up to 6,743. Najafi said since a UN-brokered cease-fire ended the war in 1988, Iran has freed 50,019 Iraqi prisoners while Iraq has freed 39,417 Iranians. (At least 1m people are believed to have been killed or wounded in the war. The 2 neighbours have not signed a peace treaty, and efforts to normalise ties have failed. Both countries have recently been targets of rocket attacks and explosions that each blames on the other. Iraq says Iran still holds Iraqi prisoners and accuses Tehran of turning down its pleas to normalise relations. Iran says Iraq keeps thousands of Iranian prisoners and provides refuge to Iranian exiles in military camps near the border.)