Baghdad, Iraq ? The Iraqi foreign minister called Sunday for the release of five Iranians detained by U.S. forces in what he said was a legitimate diplomatic mission in northern Iraq, but he stressed that foreign intervention to help insurgents would not be tolerated.

The two-pronged statement by Hoshyar Zebari highlighted the delicate balance the Iraqi government faces as it tries to secure Baghdad with the help of American forces while maintaining ties with its neighbors, including U.S. rivals Iran and Syria.

“Any interventions – or any harmful interventions – to kill Iraqis or to provide support for insurgency or for the insurgents should be stopped by the Iraqi government and by the coalition forces,” Zebari said in an interview with CNN’s “Late Edition.”

But he also stressed Iraq has to maintain good relations with its neighboring nations.

“You have to remember, our destiny, as Iraqis, we have to live in this part of the world. And we have to live with Iran, we have to live with Syria and Turkey and other countries,” he said. “So in fact, on the other hand, the Iraqi government is committed to cultivate good neighborly relations with these two countries and to engage them constructively in security cooperation.”

The U.S. military said the five Iranians detained last week in the Kurdish-controlled northern city of Irbil were connected to an Iranian Revolutionary Guard faction that funds and arms insurgents in Iraq. It was the second U.S. raid targeting Iranians in Iraq in less than a month.

The military said the Quds Force faction of the Revolutionary Guard, a hard-line military force that reports directly to supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, is “known for providing funds, weapons, improvised explosive device technology and training to extremist groups attempting to destabilize the Government of Iraq and attack Coalition forces.”

U.S. and Iraqi soldiers take aim as a firefight with insurgents breaks out in Baqouba, 35 miles northeast of Baghdad, Iraq. In violence Sunday, at least 78 people were reported killed or found dead, including 41 bullet-riddled bodies discovered in Baghdad.

“Al-Quds” is the Arabic name for Jerusalem, and a frequent term for political or military factions across the Muslim world.

Iran’s government denied the five detainees were involved in financing and arming insurgents and called for their release along with compensation for damages.

In Nicaragua, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said the U.S. was trying to hide its failures in Iraq by accusing his nation of funding Iraqi insurgents. Speaking at his meeting with Nicaragua’s president, Ahmadinejad ducked the question of whether his country was arming and supporting insurgents responsible for attacks in Iraq.