“The negotiations are likely to start next week in Baghdad,” the source at Tehran’s embassy in Baghdad said, denying Iranian press reports that the talks were due to start in two days’ time.
“The negotiations must be open and transparent with the Iraqi government representative’s participation. Iran’s condition is that Iraqi people be informed of the results,” he added.
Press reports said the Iranian delegation is likely to be headed by top Supreme National Security Council official Ali Hosseini-Tash, who was appointed to nuclear talks with Moscow in February over a compromise deal to enrich Iran’s uranium on Russian soil.
Any direct meeting would mark a break in a near three-decade pause in direct contacts between US and Iranian officials following the country’s 1979 Islamic revolution, despite heightened tensions due to the standoff over Iran’s nuclear programme.
