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Iran limits talks with US on Iraq

Iran Materials 5 April 2008 14:39 (UTC +04:00)

(dpa) - Iran has limited talks with the United States on Iraq's security, Foreign Ministry Spokesman Mohammad-Ali Hosseini told the news network Khabar Saturday.

Hosseini said that Iran would from now on ignore all US requests for talks on Iraq and only consider direct requests from Baghdad for such talks.

So far no such request has been made by the Iraqi government, Hosseini said.

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 in mid- 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 followed hostile polices 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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