Petraeus '90% Certain' that U.K. Hostage Was in Iran

The Independent

The United States' former commander in Iraq said he was "90 per cent certain" that former hostage Peter Moore was held in Iran for some of his two-and-a-half years in captivity, according to reports today. General David Petraeus told the BBC he was "absolutely certain" Mr Moore and the other hostages were held in Iran for part of their period in captivity and the Guardian quoted a former member of Iran's Revolutionary Guard as saying the kidnapping was masterminded by the organisation. But the Foreign Office played down the reports today and said there was no evidence the British hostages were held in Iran following their abduction. BBC security correspondent Frank Gardner put the question directly to Gen Petraeus, who was commander of multi-national forces in Iraq at the time of the kidnap and now heads US Central Command, at a conference in Bahrain on December 13. Mr Gardner told Radio 4's Today programme: "He didn't hesitate. He said 'I'm absolutely certain. I'm 90% certain'. "I said is this a personal view or have you seen hard intelligence, and he thought for a minute and he said 'I am pretty sure I've seen hard intelligence on it' ... that they were held in Iran for some of the period of their captivity."

There were also reports today that Mr Moore was targeted for abduction because he was in Iraq to install computer systems to track the movements of money within the post-war administration which might have shown how funds supplied by the US and its allies were being diverted to Iranian-backed insurgent groups. The Guardian claimed the men were moved to Iran within days of their kidnapping and held by the Guard's al-Quds brigade at the Qasser Shiereen military camp near the Iraqi border and then at a camp called Tehran Pars near the city of Qom. "It was an Iranian kidnap, led by the Revolutionary Guard, carried out by the al-Quds brigade," said the unnamed former Guard member. "My contact works for al-Quds. He took part in the planning of the kidnap and he watched the kidnapping as it was taking place. He told me that they spent two days at the Qasser Shiereen camp. They then took them deep inside Iran." But the Foreign Office said: "We have no evidence that the British hostages, including Peter Moore, were held in Iran. We are not in a position to say with any certainty where they were held during each and every single day of their two-and-a-half years in captivity." The reports will further heighten tension between the UK and Iran after Britain renewed its calls for human rights to be respected over the clampdown on protesters in Tehran and other cities. (Read more...)