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Iran releases Greek journalist

TEHRAN, July 5 (UPI) -- Iran released a Greek journalist detained since the June 12 elections, a Foreign Ministry spokesman said Sunday.

Jason Athanasiadis, who was working for The Washington Times, was covering post-election events when he was arrested because of "unethical and unprofessional behavior and his role in fueling the recent unrest," a press release from the IRIB news agency reported.

Hassan Qashqavi of the Iranian Foreign Ministry said on state television Iran's envoys to Greece and the United Nations worked to get Athanasiadis released.

Qashqavi said Athanasiadis was arrested for entering the country illegally after he had been barred from crossing into the country by authorities. Qashqavi said the journalist was using a British passport at the time of a confrontation with Iranian authorities, and Iranian authorities said he was then detained because he overstayed his visa.

Biden: U.S. 'cannot dictate to' Israel

WASHINGTON, July 5 (UPI) -- U.S. Vice President Joe Biden said Sunday Iraq and Israel both have sovereign rights the United States has no intention of infringing upon.

Biden, who made a weekend trip to Iraq, told ABC's "This Week" the United States isn't dictating to Iraq how to deal with internal problems such as the Kurds' desire for greater autonomy. He said Iraqi leaders did ask him to be a go-between with the Kurds.

Biden said "it's very important" that Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki and other Iraqi leaders communicate to the people of Iraq, that they are a sovereign nation.

"They take directions from no one. That they are able to handle their own internal affairs," Biden said.

On Israel, Biden said Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu's government can decide "what's in their interest and what they decide to do relative to Iran and anyone else" regardless of what the U.S. position is.

"They're entitled to do that. Any sovereign nation is entitled to do that," he said. "If the Netanyahu government decides to take a course of action different than the one being pursued now, that is their sovereign right to do that. That is not our choice."

Asked if the United States would intervene if Israel was about to take action to disrupt Iran's nuclear program, Biden responded: "Look, we cannot dictate to another sovereign nation what they can and cannot do when they make a determination, if they make a determination, that they're existentially threatened, their survival is threatened by another country."

Mullen: Iran strike would destabilize

WASHINGTON, July 5 (UPI) -- Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Mike Mullen said Sunday a military strike on Iran could prove "very destabilizing."

Appearing on CBS's "Face the Nation," Mullen said if any country, such as Israel, attacked Iran to limit the country's controversial nuclear program, that could have far-reaching implications.

"Well, I have been for some time concerned about any strike on Iran," Mullen said. "I worry about it being very destabilizing not just in and of itself but the unintended consequences of a strike like that."

But Mullen also expressed concern about the prospect of Iran's having nuclear weapons.

"I worry about the proliferation of the technology," he said. "I worry about other countries thinking in the region they might have to have that capability."

Turning his focus to Afghanistan, Mullen said U.S. troops are facing tough opposition in the southern part of the country.

"It's already started out to be pretty tough," Mullen said. "We've made some advances early. But I suspect it's going to be tough for a while.

Chinese fishermen's release demanded

BEIJING, July 5 (UPI) -- Protesters in Beijing demanded Sunday that Indonesia release 75 Chinese fishermen detained two weeks ago, observers said.

The state-run Chinese news agency Xinhua reported two Chinese men and a woman staged a brief demonstration in front of Indonesia's embassy in Beijing, unfurling a banner that read, "Deeply mourning for the fishermen killed in Nansha! The Nansha Islands belong to Chinese territory forever, and we demand the immediate and unconditional release of all fishermen."

An Indonesian embassy official, Ouyang Yuping, met with the protesters, accepted their banner and told Xinhua the demonstrators were farmers who had come to Beijing from Jiangxi province. The demonstrators were persuaded to leave by police, the news agency said.

Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Qin Gang said Indonesia seized eight fishing boats from the southern Guangxi Zhuang autonomous region June 20 while they were in China's traditional fishing grounds off the Nansha islands on the South China Sea.

Qin said China has demanded the immediate release of the 75 men and their vessels.