Correction: U.S. raided Iran's proto consulate in Iraq, regional war postponed

Posted by Lindsay Beyerstein at 2:35 PM on January 12, 2007.

Semantics save the day.

Yesterday, American forces raided what was widely reported to be an Iranian consulate in northern Iraq.

Now the Iraqi foreign minister is helpfully re-describing the facility as an Iraqi-government approved liason office that was in the process of becoming a consulate:

The Iranians were detained Thursday as multinational forces entered the building overnight and confiscated computers and documents, two senior local Kurdish officials said, speaking on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the information.

Six people suspected of being involved in attacks against Iraqi civilians and military forces were initially detained, the U.S. military said in a statement. One was later released. The statement did not identify the nationalities of the suspects.