US forces have released seven Iranians hours after arresting them at a central Baghdad hotel, Iraq's state television said.Radio Sawa, a US-financed Arabic language station, and Iran's official IRNA news agency said the delegation was in Baghdad to negotiate contracts on electric power stations with the Iraqi government.
The Associated Press filmed US soldiers late on Tuesday leading about 10 men out of the Sheraton Ishtar hotel, where Iran's embassy confirmed six electricity ministry officials and an embassy employee were staying.
An embassy official said they had been released to Iraqi authorities on Wednesday.
The arrests and subsequent release came close on the heels of an Iraq policy speech by George Bush.
The US president declared that withdrawing forces from Iraq would leave the Middle East to the "forces of radicalism" and jeopardise US security.
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