The issue of negotiations between Iran and the U.S. regarding Iraq is no longer on the table, Irans newly-appointed ambassador to Iraq Hassan Kazemi Qomi told the official new agency.
Qomi said that the issue of Iran-U.S. talks over Iraq had been raised for close to a year but had been repeatedly rejected by Tehran until it was formally proposed by Iraqi officials.
Following the establishment of a permanent government in Iraq, we have no issue to negotiate about, he said.
Qomi, who until recently was Iran’s charge d’affaires in Iraq, is a veteran officer of the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps and was once the IRGCs liaison to Hezbollah in Lebanon.
U.S. President George W. Bush had authorised the American ambassador to Iraq Zalmay Khalilzad to discuss the security situation in Iraq with Iran. The United States and Iraqi officials routinely blame Tehran for aiding the insurgency.
In April, hard-line Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad ruled out on direct talks between the Islamic Republic and the United States over Iraq.
