Iran may have been involved in the kidnapping of Lincoln hostage Peter Moore, it has emerged.

As Lincoln-born Mr Moore prepares to fly home after his two year ordeal, it has been alleged that he was kidnapped by an Iranian backed group who believed he had valuable knowledge about Iraqi finances.

Mr Moore, 36, was working in Baghdad as an IT consultant in the Iraq finance ministry when he was kidnapped in 2007, along with his four bodyguards.

It has now been reported that Mr Moore was targeted for abduction because he was in Iraq to install computer systems to track the movements of money within the post-war administration which might have shown how funds supplied by the US and its allies were being diverted to Iranian-backed insurgent groups.

The Foreign Office has played down the allegations, saying there is no evidence that he was in Iran.

But General David Petraeus, the former United States commander in Iraq, said he was "90 per cent certain" that Mr Moore had been held in Iran for at least some of his two and a half year captivity.

BBC security correspondent Frank Gardner said that he had put the question directly to Gen Petraeus.

Mr Gardner told Radio 4's Today programme: "He didn't hesitate. He said 'I'm absolutely certain. I'm 90 per cent certain'.

"I said is this a personal view or have you seen hard intelligence, and he thought for a minute and he said 'I am pretty sure I've seen hard intelligence on it' ... that they were held in Iran for some of the period of their captivity."

Mr Moore was released in Baghdad on Wednesday morning, and his step parents Pauline and Fran Sweeney told the Echo they were 'euphoric' at the news.