US will regret detaining citizens: Iran

today that a judge will decide within the next few days whether to indict or free four Iranian-Americans who have been charged with endangering national security.

The detentions have further riled US-Iran relations, already strained over Iran8217;s nuclear programme.

8220;We will make the Americans regret their ugly and illegal action against the consulate of Iran in Arbil in Iraq and kidnapping five of our diplomats,8221; Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki said, according to state television.

Mottaki did not elaborate on how the US would be made to regret its move.

He added that Iran in the next two days would send a

letter to UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon protesting 8220;the lack of attention and clear, indefensible discrimination of the Security Council8221; on the issue.

The US had in January arrested five Iranian officials working for an Iranian office in the northern Iraqi city of Arbil, accusing the men of belonging to the elite special operations force of the Revolutionary Guards. US military officials have said two other Iranians have also been detained in Iraq but it is unclear when and where they were arrested.

Iran insists that the men are diplomats working for a 8220;consulate8221; and the affair has further soured the atmosphere between the two foes even after their highest-level public contacts in 27 years two weeks ago.