BAGHDAD, Sept 20 (Reuters) - U.S. soldiers detained an Iranian on Thursday who was part of a commercial delegation visiting the northern Iraqi city of Sulaimaniya, an Iraqi government official in Baghdad said.

The official said U.S. forces detained the man at his hotel in Sulaimaniya, a city in Iraq's largely autonomous region of Kurdistan. He had no further information.

The U.S. military in Baghdad had no immediate comment.

Relations between the United States and Iran are tense over the arrest by U.S. forces of five Iranians in the Iraqi Kurdish city of Arbil earlier this year.

Tehran says the five are diplomats. Washington says they were supporting militants operating in Iraq.

The two old foes are also at odds over Iran's nuclear programme, which Tehran says is for peaceful ends but the West suspects is aimed at making atom bombs.

AlertNet news is provided by