TEHRAN, June 12 (Xinhua) -- Visiting Iraqi deputy prime minister Barham Salih said on Tuesday that his country is making all-out efforts to set free the five Iranians who were arrested by U.S. forces in northern Iraq in January, local Fars news agency reported.

    "Families (of the five Iranians) should be optimistic that we are making our utmost efforts," Salih told Fars after his meeting with the family members in Tehran.

    The Iraqi deputy prime minister said that during the meeting he had not given a pledge but assured the other side that Iraqi government would make serious efforts to release the five Iranians.

    "The Iraqi government has officially requested the Americans to release the said individuals," he added.

    The spouse of one of the five kidnapped Iranians told reporters that during the meeting with the Iraqi deputy prime minister, the family members have requested Salih to arrange a meeting with their beloved ones, but Salih had not made a pledge in that regard.

    "Barham Salih did not give any pledge about the release of these individuals either said that they (the Iraqi government)were not the decision-makers in this case," the unidentified woman was quoted as saying.

    Iranian Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki said earlier Tuesday that Iran would make the United States "regret" the detention of its five nationals, the official IRNA news agency reported.

    "We will make the Americans regret their ugly and illegal action against the Islamic Republic of Iran's consulate in Arbil, Iraq, and the abduction of the five Iranian diplomats," Mottaki said.

    Mottaki's remarks came one day after the Iranian Foreign Ministry forwarded a letter to the Swiss Embassy, which looks after the U.S. interests, seeking consular contact with the five "Iranian diplomats," according to IRNA.

    U.S. forces arrested the five Iranians in January in the northern Iraqi city of Arbil, and accused them of being members of Iran's Revolutionary Guards. Iran said the five were diplomats working in Iraq.

    The Iranian Foreign Ministry's letter called for arrangements to enable its representative in Baghdad to contact with the five Iranians, said IRNA.

    Quoting some U.S. and Iraqi officials, the Los Angeles Times reported on Saturday that the five Iranians imprisoned by U.S. forces in Iraq will probably be released in the next few weeks.

    The Iranians, who were seized on suspicion of spying during the U.S. raid in Arbil, are up for a six-month review of their cases at the end of June, said the Los Angeles Times.

    The officials emphasized that no decision had been made, but said the review offered an opportunity to resolve an issue that has been a point of contention between Washington and Tehran.