Lt. Gen. Raymond T. Odierno, the top commander of day-to-day operations in Iraq, said he will recommend that five Iranians captured by U.S. forces in January not be released when their case is reviewed this month.

“Militarily, we should hold on to them,” he told reporters, a move that could further increase tensions between Washington and Tehran.

The status of the captured Iranians is so sensitive that it is the only case of foreign detainees in Iraq that is being reviewed all the way up to the White House. Odierno’s view reflects a deepening anger at both the State Department and the Pentagon over Iran’s failure to cooperate in the stabilization of Iraq, even after the first bilateral public dialogue between U.S. and Iranian diplomats in 28 years was launched in March in Baghdad.

U.S. troops last month arrested a sixth Iranian, Mahmudi Farhadi, in northern Iraq and said he also was part of the Quds Force network. Odierno said he is a “significant” player who is suspected of providing weapons, money and training to Iraqi militants since 2005.