BAGHDAD, 10 November 2007 — The US military yesterday freed nine Iranians held in Iraq, including two it had accused of links to Iran’s elite Qods Force, signaling a possible easing in tensions between the two countries over security in Iraq.

While US President George W. Bush is still pushing for tougher sanctions against Iran over its nuclear program, US officials in Baghdad have softened their rhetoric toward Tehran and said they are open to more talks on stabilizing Iraq.

Washington has long accused Iran of fueling sectarian violence in Iraq, notably by arming Shiite militias, a charge it denies. But recently US officials have been at pains to point out an apparent drop in attacks using Iranian munitions.

The two detainees accused of being “associates” of the Qods Force were among five Iranians captured in the northern city of Irbil in January on suspicion of arming and funding Shiite militias. “All nine individuals were determined to no longer pose a security risk and to be of no continued intelligence value,” the US military said in a statement.

US Defense Secretary Robert Gates denied a link between the release and a drop in roadside bomb attacks using weapons such as explosively formed penetrators (EFPs), which the United States accuses Iran of supplying.

“I continue to believe that it’s too early to tell whether there really has been a decrease in Iranian supply of EFPs and other weapons into Iraq,” he told reporters on his way back to Washington from a visit to Japan.

Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Mohammad Ali Hosseini told Iran state radio that “American officials in Iraq admitted that the freed Iranians were innocent and they had no links with insurgents in Iraq.” Iraqi government spokesman Ali Al-Dabbagh said the Iranians had been handed over to Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri Al-Maliki and then transferred to the Iranian Embassy in Baghdad.

Iran’s semi-official Mehr news agency said the nine, some of whom had been held for three years, had landed at Tehran’s international airport.

Iranian state media identified the pair captured in Irbil as Mohammad Reza Asgari and Mousa Chegini. Asgari told Iranian television that US forces had attacked their office in Irbil.

“We were their hostage for 10 months... Our release shows that their accusations were baseless,” Asgari said.

Iran says the “Irbil Five” are all diplomats and has called for all of them to be released. Iranian media said the other seven freed yesterday were visitors. US forces in Iraq are still holding 11 more Iranians.

The US military has noted a sharp drop in mortar attacks on Baghdad’s heavily fortified Green Zone last month. Many of those attacks have been blamed on Shiite militias using Iranian-made weapons.