US leaves door open to talks with Iran on Iraq

Washington, Nov 14: The United States left open the possibility of speaking directly to Iran about its neighbor Iraq, where Washington accuses Tehran of stoking up violence.

Critics of the Bush administration's policy in Iraq are pushing for the United States to have direct talks with Iran over how to calm the situation in Iraq.

State Department spokesman Sean McCormack said talks with Iran about Iraq, which were considered earlier this year, were a possibility in the future but he stressed they were not currently planned.

''If in the future we want to avail ourselves of that channel, then it certainly is a possibility,'' McCormack yesterday said of talking to Iran about Iraq. ''I don't think that right now that is something that's under consideration.'' Last month, the US ambassador to Iraq, Zalmay Khalilzad, said ''foreign rivals'' such as Iran and Syria were trying to tear the Iraqi people apart along sectarian lines.

Iran, which has close religious ties to Iraq's majority Shi'ite Muslims, has denied supporting armed groups in Iraq and blames the violence on the March 2003 invasion and occupation by US-led forces.

Earlier this year, President George W Bush authorized Khalilzad to hold talks with Iran, which some analysts viewed as a test opening to broader dialogue over other issues such as Tehran's nuclear program.

However that meeting never took place for a variety of reasons, said McCormack, pointing to a wish from Iran that other issues apart from Iraq's security should be discussed.

''The modalities and the interests didn't match up at that point in time,'' he said.

The United States is at loggerheads with Iran over its nuclear program and says it will only speak to Tehran about that issue when it abandons its uranium enrichment program.

''We believe that these are separate issues and that Iran, right now, finds itself -- on the nuclear issue -- under threat of a UN sanctions resolution,'' said McCormack.

He said the United States had consistently encouraged Iran and Syria to play a positive role in Iraq.

Reuters

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