UK Paper: Botched U.S. Raid in Iraq Led to Hostage Crisis

From Democracynow.org:

The Independent of London has revealed that the recent stand-off between Iran and Britain over the captured British sailors may have its roots in a botched U.S. military raid in Iraq. According to the paper, the U.S. military attempted to abduct two senior Iranian security officials in northern Iraq on January 11th. The officials have been identified as Mohammed Jafari, the powerful deputy head of the Iranian National Security Council, and General Minojahar Frouzanda, the chief of intelligence of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard. The men were in Iraq on official business to meet with the Iraqi president. The U.S. failed to seize the two officials but they did capture five relatively junior Iranian officials. The U.S. has been holding the five Iranians since Jan. 11 at an undisclosed location.