TEHRAN (IRNA) -- An informed source said on Tuesday evening that the released Iranian diplomat who was kidnapped in Baghdad in February was seized by Iraq's security forces who work under direct control of the U.S. troops.

Second secretary of the Iranian embassy, Jalal Sharafi, was kidnapped on February 4 when his car was intercepted by vehicles carrying armed men in the Karradah district of Baghdad.

He was released and returned to Tehran on Tuesday (April 3) with the cooperation of the Iraqi government.

The diplomat was welcomed at Tehran's Mehrabad International Airport by Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki.

The source added that data received by the Iranian side has verified that the American forces in Iraq were responsible for Sharafi's abduction.

Therefore, the source continued, Iranian officials had requested the Swiss embassy in Tehran which is in charge of the U.S. interests to make necessary efforts to secure the release of the Iranian diplomat.

The arrest of three of the kidnappers in Baghdad by the local police forces during a recent struggle has highly helped the Iraqi government to solve the problem, the sources added.

He said that the kidnappers were in disguise as the forces of the Iraqi Defense Ministry when they had seized Sharafi near a branch of Iran's Melli Bank in Baghdad.