LONDON, Oct. 3 (Xinhuanet) -- The Irish government has stepped up its efforts to free the British hostage in Iraq, Ken Bigley, whose mother is from Ireland, by talking to diplomats from Iran and Jordan.

    "I have made contact with Iranian dipl omats in Ireland and with the Jordanian government," Ireland's new Foreign Minister Dermot Ahern was quoted by the BBC on Sunday as saying.

    "I raised it with my officials on my first day in the department. Any pressure we can put on to be of assistance to the British government, we will use," he said.

    It is not the first move by Irish politicians to hasten Bigley's release. The Taoiseach Bertie Ahern, Sinn Fein President Gerry Adams and the Irish Labor Party's Michael D Higgins have all had pleas broadcast on Arab television station Al-Jazeera.

    Ireland's SDLP MP and Nobel Peace Prize laureate John Hume alsomade a direct appeal for his release after being approached by the Bigley Family.

    Bigley, from Liverpool of England, is now in his 18th day of captivity after being seized from his home in Baghdad by gunmen claiming from the group Tawhid and Jihad, which is allegedly run by a close ally of al Qaeda, the Jordanian-born Abu Musab al-Zarqawi.

    British Prime Minister Tony Blair and other officials have reiterated that the government would do whatever it can to win Bugket's release but warned against raising false hopes because of the nature of his hostage-takers.

    A UK Muslim negotiator involved in trying to free Bigley has expressed guarded optimism he will be freed, the Independent reported on Sunday.

    "I feel he will (survive)," said Daud Abdullah, who led a delegation from the Muslim Council of Britain to Baghdad last week for Bigley's release. "I don't think they want to murder him but they want something out of it politically -- apart from humiliating Tony Blair and the government."

    On Saturday new appeals from the council were published in two Baghdad newspapers, a day after another 100,000 leaflets appealing directly to the kidnappers were distributed around the capital, saying the kidnap was not consistent with the Islamic faith. Enditem