The Challenges Of Terrorism - Part 22 - Iraq & US-Iran Talks.

US Ambassador to Baghdad Ryan Crocker on May 28 met his Iranian counterpart, Hassan Kazemi-Qomi, for four hours. Previous attempts to hold direct talks had to be abandoned in the face of opposition from hardliners in Tehran and Washington. The agenda for the May 28 meeting was strictly confined to Iraq, with no mention of Iran's nuclear programme, the arrest by Iran of US-Iranian citizens, or Tehran's charges that the US and UK had spy rings inside Iran trying to foment trouble among its ethnic minorities.

Crocker said: "The focus of our [blunt] discussions was Iraq and Iraq only". He said Tehran, which stated it wanted a stable Iraq, had to put a stop to alleged involvement of Iranians in arming and training Iraq's Shi'ite and Sunni insurgents, adding: "Iranian actions on the ground have to come into harmony with their described principles. Their actions are at cross purposes to their stated policy". He repeated US allegations that roadside bombs in Iraq, lethal against US and UK armoured vehicles, were sent from Iran. He told a news conference: "I laid out to the Iranians direct, specific concerns about their behaviour in Iraq and their support for militias that are fighting Iraqi and coalition forces".

Qomi, describing the US role in Iraq as that of an occupying force, told the Americans the training of the Iraqi army was proving to be too slow and ineffective, and offered to help - an offer Washington is unlikely to take up. Iran proposed what it called a trilateral forum in which the US, Iran, and Iraq could meet regularly to discuss Middle East security matters. This, analysts said, was a signal that Iran thought it had become a regional super-power and wanted to share with the US responsibility for the security of the Middle East. Crocker said he would have to refer the proposal to Washington.

Qomi's overall assessment was upbeat. He told Iranian state TV: "Some problems have been raised and studied, and I think this was a positive step... In the political field, the two sides agreed to support and strengthen the Iraqi government, which was another positive item achieved".

Although Qomi offered a second round of talks within less than a month, Crocker said the purpose of the meeting had been to lay out US concerns, and that had been achieved, adding: "In terms of what happens next, we are going to want to wait and see - not what is said next, but what happens on the ground; whether we start to see some indications of change of Iranian behaviour".