US and Iran hold rare direct talks on Iraq security

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BAGHDAD, July 24 (AFP): Arch enemies the United States and Iran launched a second round of rare face-to-face talks in Baghdad on Tuesday aimed at stemming the raging violence in Iraq
The talks began at 10.15 am (0615 GMT) at the office of Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki, who began the meeting with a brief speech, according to an official at the Iraqi premier's office.
"We hope to see your support in stabilising Iraq. We do not want to see Iraq interfering in the affairs of others, nor do we want anyone to interfere in its internal affairs," Maliki said, according to a statement from his office.
"Iraq has the right to call all to stand beside it in combating terror and extremism. The world and our friends have to unite to face this serious phenomena which reaches beyond the borders of Iraq," he added.
Photographs from the meeting showed the three delegations sitting around a triangular arrangement of tables in conference room in Maliki's offices inside Baghdad's heavily-fortified Green Zone.
The US was represented by its ambassador in Baghdad, Ryan Crocker, while Tehran's envoy Hassan Kazemi Qomi headed the Iranian delegation in the talks attended by Iraqi officials.
As with a similar meeting held on May 28, officials said the talks would only focus on the security situation in Iraq, leaving aside a roster of other disputes between the United States and the Islamic republic.
May's meeting did not achieve any major breakthrough as both sides stuck to their familiar positions, with Tehran calling for a US withdrawal and Washington accusing Iran of fomenting violence.
The United States broke off relations with Iran in 1980, when Islamic revolutionaries seized the US embassy in Tehran and held its diplomats hostage for 444 days.
The two countries remain at loggerheads over a range of issues including Iran's nuclear programme, which the United States claims is aimed at producing nuclear weapons, an accusation vehemently denied by Tehran.
US forces also accuse Iran of arming and training Iraqi militias, allegations Iranian officials have also denied, and which a government spokesman again rejected on Tuesday.
"These accusations are without basis and do not help the atmosphere of the negotiations," Iranian foreign ministry spokesman Mohammed Ali Hosseini told journalists in Tehran.
"These declarations aim to deceive public opinion which is troubled by the United States' warlike policy," Hosseini said, adding that the "Americans would be better off finding ways to get out of the Iraqi crisis."
Relations have also been chilled by the detention in Iraq by US forces of at least five Iranian officials whom Tehran insists are diplomats, but Washington says are covert operatives from of Iran's elite Revolutionary Guard.