AP: The Iranian Foreign Ministry cast doubt Sunday on whether a second round of U.S.-Iran talks on the situation in Iraq would take place this month, saying no decision had been taken on a second meeting. Associated Press
TEHRAN, Iran (AP) – The Iranian Foreign Ministry cast doubt Sunday on whether a second round of U.S.-Iran talks on the situation in Iraq would take place this month, saying no decision had been taken on a second meeting.
On May 28, U.S. and Iranian diplomats met for four hours in Baghdad to discuss security in Iraq. Afterward, Iranian Ambassador Hassan Kazemi Qomi told The Associated Press that the two sides would meet again in less than a month.
On Sunday, however, Foreign Ministry spokesman Mohammad Ali Hosseini told reporters that Iran had not agreed to a second round this month.
He said the Iranians were studying the results of the May 28 talks and would decide later whether to continue them.
The talks last month were the first formal, scheduled meeting between Iranian and American officials since the United States broke diplomatic relations with Iran following the Nov. 4, 1979 seizure of the U.S. Embassy by radical students.
Shortly after the May meeting, Iran’s senior security official, Ali Larijani, said the U.S.-Iran dialogue could continue only if Americans offer new solutions to the security crisis in Iraq.
Iran considers the presence of U.S. troops in Iraq as a threat to its security and has demanded they leave. Washington, meanwhile, accuses Iran of arming and financing Shiite militias fighting American and Iraqi troops in Iraq – charges Iran denies.
