Question Over Security Meet.

Tensions over prisoners held by Iran and the US and a diplomatic dispute over the venue threaten to undermine a regional security conference on Iraq planned for April. The FT on March 29 reported Iraqi officials as saying Baghdad was considering holding the foreign ministerial conference - to involve a rare high-level meeting between the US and Iran - in a European capital or a neutral place in the region, after failure to agree on Baghdad, Istanbul or Cairo. But international strains over Iran and the US risk complicating plans for the meeting, supposed to include foreign ministers from the five UNSC members as well as all of Iraq's neighbours.

Iraqi officials say the crisis over IRGC's seizure of the 15 UK sailors and tighter UNSC sanctions against Tehran make co-operation more difficult. Iraqi Foreign Minister Hoshyar Zebari on March 28 met his Iranian counterpart Manouchehr Mottaki on the margins of the Arab summit in Riyadh as Baghdad sought to mediate in the seizure of the 15.

The conference is intended as a follow-up to the March 10 meeting of envoys in Baghdad. At that meeting, the Iranian team raised the issue of five Iranians detained by US forces in the northern city of Arbil in January and of an Iranian diplomat abducted in Baghdad and believed by Tehran to be in US custody. The FT quoted a US spokesman as saying Iraq had asked the US to investigate. The US was still doing so, he said. Iran says it was assured by Iraq the five seized in Arbil would be released by the Iranian new year - March 21. But Iran denies making any connection between the "Arbil five" and its detention of the British personnel. The US on March 29 refused to tie the fate of the "Arbil five" to that of the 15 British sailors.

The UNSC on March 29 called "for an early resolution of this problem, including the release of the 15 [UK] personnel". Russia had blocked a tougher statement remanding an immediate release. Iran said Britain's attempt to engage third parties, including the UNSC, was "not helpful", adding the case "should be settled through bilateral channels".

Indications of behind-the-scenes diplomatic activity came after the UN statement when Britain said it was giving "serious consideration" to a formal note from Iran about the 15 personnel. The UK Foreign Office said: "Such exchanges are always confidential, so we cannot divulge any details. But we are giving the message serious consideration, and will soon respond formally". The note was received by the British embassy in Tehran. Tehran said it would not free the one woman held and PM Tony Blair called Iran's actions "a disgrace", telling ITV News: "What I'm afraid we can't do is end up in negotiation over hostages. What we can't do is say there's some kind of quid pro quo or tit-for-tat that goes on". Iran earlier released a second letter purportedly from the female captive, Leading Seaman Faye Turney, 26, questioning the UK presence in Iraq.

Before release of the UN statement, UK's efforts to persuade the UNSC had been hampered by doubts voiced by Russia, China and other states over its insistence the declaration must state the 15 were captured while in Iraqi waters. Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said: "The Gulf is in such an agitated state that any action in this region, especially one that involves the navy or other military forces, must take into account the need not to aggravate the situation" (see omt14IranProspctApr2-07).

Iranian TV on March 29 quoted a naval commander as claiming the British forces' satellite navigation system had shown they had crossed into Iranian waters five times before being arrested. Iran's top security man Ali Larijani said the UK's moving the matter to the UNSC meant Iran would not follow through on a promise to free Ms Turney. Iranian TV said President Mahmoud Ahmadi-Nejad would consider a request from Turkish PM Recep Tayyip Erdogan to free Ms Turney; but he later demanded a UK apology to Tehran.

Mottaki may not attend a security conference with US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice while the Iranians are being held in Iraq. Iraq wants the ministerial meeting to be held in Baghdad. But several neighbours are reluctant to send high-level delegations to a war zone. The Iraqis are opposed to holding the conference in Istanbul or Cairo, arguing that Turkey and Egypt were "sensitive" locations with a direct interest in Iraq. Maliki described the March 10 Baghdad meeting as a way of shielding Iraq from being used as a proxy for other conflicts in the region.