TEHRAN, April 30 (Mehr News Agency) -- On Monday, the communications spokesperson of the International Committee of the Red Cross office in Tehran announced that the families of the Iranian diplomats held hostage in Iraq by U.S. forces will soon be allowed to visit them.

Following requests by the families, the U.S. military agreed to allow the meeting, Frederic Gouin told the Mehr News Agency.

U.S. troops stormed the Iranian consulate in the northern Iraqi city of Irbil on January 11 and arrested five diplomats under the pretext that they were fomenting violence in Iraq.

The time and place of the meeting has not been confirmed yet and due to security precautions it can not be announced, but the United States has generally agreed to allow the meeting, Gouin said.

... Payvand News - 5/1/07 ...

... Payvand News - 5/1/07 ... --