Middle East News
Tehran might consider resumption of talks with US on Iraq
May 11, 2008, 6:35 GMT
Tehran - Tehran might consider resumption of talks with the United States on Iraq, Foreign Ministry Spokesman Mohammad-Ali Hosseini said Sunday.
Hosseini said in a press briefing in Tehran that if conditions were right, Iran would resume talks with the US on security in Iraq.
The spokesman had said last week that Iran would not talk with the US as long as US forces targeted Iraqi civilians in their fight against militias linked to Shiite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr who is said to be a protege of Tehran.
Hosseini's earlier remarks were interpreted by the press as Iran cutting bilateral talks which the spokesman however clarified on Sunday.
Iran and the US have already held three rounds of talks in Baghdad without any tangible results except an as yet unimplemented plan to form a trilateral security committee consisting of Iran, the US and Iraq to help bring stability to Iraq.
The two political arch-foes were supposed to resume talks last February but the meeting was cancelled, reportedly due to 'technical reasons.'
The US and Iran severed diplomatic ties after US embassy staff in Tehran were taken hostage for 444 days in 1979-81. The two sides have pursued hostile policies towards each other since then.
The US accuses Iran of aiding insurgents in Iraq, and, while denying the US charges, Tehran says that the only way to return peace and stability to Iraq is for the US to withdraw its forces immediately.
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