BAGHDAD (AFP) — Four Iranian embassy staff and their Iraqi driver were wounded when their convoy was shot at in the Iraqi capital, the embassy and Iraqi officials said on Friday.
An Iranian embassy spokesman said the embassy staff consisted of two diplomats and two guards. They came under attack on Thursday evening in a northern neighbourhood of Baghdad.
"We can't accuse anyone at the moment but there are many groups trying to make trouble for Iran-Iraq relations," spokesman Manojer Taslimi said. "But, this will not affect our relations."
Iraqi police officials said an investigation was under way but no arrests had been made.
Since the US-led overthrow of Saddam Hussein's Sunni-dominated regime in 2003, Shiite-majority Iran has enjoyed sharply improved relations with Iraq's new Shiite-led government.
However, the Iraqi government announced earlier this month that it would form a panel to investigate US accusations of Iranian meddling in Iraqi affairs.
Iran vehemently rejects the US accusations, saying that it is the US-led troop presence that is the principal source of instability in Iraq.
"The assassination attempt against four Iranian embassy staff in Baghdad is a criminal action," Iranian foreign ministry spokesman Mohammad Ali Hosseini told the ISNA news agency in Tehran.
"The Islamic republic will seriously pursue and deal with this incident through Iraqi officials," Hosseini said.
"US negligence and suspect strategies have resulted in increasing insecurity in Iraq," he added.
The US military insisted it had no hand in the attack on the Iranian embassy staff.
"We want to make it clear that the US was in no way involved in this attack," spokesman Colonel Gerald O'Hara told AFP.
"The US military is not in the business of attacking innocent people and strongly condemns any attack on guests or visitors of any country," he added.
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