TEHRAN -- Two of the five Iranian diplomats held in U.S. captivity were freed on Friday and returned to the country. The U.S. military also freed seven other Iranians who had gone to Iraq as pilgrims.

Iranian diplomats, Hamidreza Askari and Musa Chegeni were released after 10 months of captivity.
U.S. troops stormed the Iranian consulate in northern Kurdish city of Arbil, on January 11 and arrested five diplomats under the pretext that they were fomenting violence in Iraq.
The U.S. military freed only nine of 20 Iranians in its custody.
Iran’s Ambassador to Iraq, Hassan Kazemi Qomi, told reporters that Iraqi officials had announced that U.S. forces have promised to release the three remaining Iranian diplomats soon.
Solitary confinement
On his arrival to the country Musa Chegeni told reporters, “U.S. forces did not torture us, but they tormented us mentally and spiritually.”
He added that U.S. forces disrespected them and held them in bad conditions.
Hamidreza Askari said, “We were kept in solitary cells for 10 months.”
U.S. must release all Iranians immediately
Iranian Foreign Ministry Spokesman Mohammad-Ali Hosseini on Friday called on the U.S. forces to immediately release all the remaining Iranian nationals including the diplomats kidnapped in Arbil.
The fact that the two Iranian diplomats were proven innocent and were released shows that the United States should alter its unilateral approaches in Iraq, and give priority to the Iraqi nation’s interests, Hosseini stated.
“Iran has only followed this issue through Iraqi officials” and it was their persistence which led to the release of the diplomats, he noted