Iran Ready To Consider Higher-Level Talks With U.S.
Iran Ready to Consider Higher-Level Talks With U.S.
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?p...pvw&refer=home
By Ladane Nasseri and Camilla Hall
July 25 (Bloomberg) -- Iran is ready to consider talks with the U.S. on Iraqi security matters at deputy foreign minister level, Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki said, a day after a meeting between the two countries' ambassadors to Iraq.
"The issue can be considered if a formal request is received from the U.S.,'' Mottaki said today, according to the official Islamic Republic News Agency. He was replying to a question on the continuation of Iran-U.S. talks, IRNA said.
U.S. Ambassador Ryan Crocker and his Iranian counterpart, Hassan Kazemi-Qomi, held a second round of direct discussions between the two countries yesterday with the aim of helping stabilize Iraq, which borders Iran. The meeting took place in the U.S.-controlled Green Zone in Baghdad.
During the talks, which Crocker described as "full and frank,'' the envoys agreed to establish a forum on security challenges in Iraq. This would address the threat posed by al- Qaeda and provide the U.S., Iranian and Iraqi governments with an opportunity to discuss border security, Crocker said.
The broadening of the U.S.-Iran dialogue comes amid accusations by the Bush administration that Iran is seeking to develop nuclear weapons and is funding and training Iraqi insurgents. Iran denies both charges and in turn blames the U.S.- led 2003 invasion for unleashing the sectarian conflict between Iraq's Sunni and Shiite Muslims.
The first U.S.-Iranian meeting in Baghdad, in May, followed 27 years of frozen diplomatic relations between Iran and the U.S. The U.S. cut ties with Iran following the Islamic Republic's 1979 seizure of the U.S. Embassy in Tehran, when 52 American hostages were held for 444 days.
