What to make of this? A deal? Money quote:
Ahmadinejad's announcement came after Iran's state media reported that an Iranian envoy would be allowed to meet five Iranians detained by US forces in northern Iraq in January. Another Iranian diplomat, Jalal Sharafi, separately seized two months ago by uniformed gunmen in Iraq, was released and returned on Tuesday to Tehran.
But the president denied there was any connection, saying, "If we had wanted to exchange Jalal Sharafi with the rest (the Britons) we would have exchanged him for 100,000. But we pardoned them." He said the decision was "based on humanitarian considerations."
The agreement to give Tehran access to the five captured Iranians in Iraq has not been confirmed.