April 4, 2006


Iraq will participate in talks between arch enemies Iran and US on situation in violence-torn country.


TEHRAN - Talks between Iran and the United States on the situation in Iraq will take place in Baghdad with Iraqi participation, Iran's charge d'affaires in Iraq Hassan Kazemi Gomi said Tuesday.

In an interview with the government daily Iran, Gomi said: "For the moment, it has been decided that these negotiations will take place in Baghdad with participation by the Iraqi side on Iraq as the first subject and they will be transparent."

He added: "The negotiating process and the level of responsibility of the negotiating team will depend on the progress obtained in the discussions." No date had been set, he said.

Iran and the US agreed that an Iraqi government "should be formed as rapidly as possible and insist that there should be a government of national unity," Gomi declared.

But Tehran felt that the Shia parties who won the elections should have a "preponderant role" in the government while the Americans stressed a political accord between the Shiites, Sunnis and Kurds to form the incoming team.

On Thursday, Iran's Foreign Minister Mounachehr Mottaki said that the place, date and composition of the negotiating team for the talks had not yet been decided.

US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said last week she was "quite certain" that US officials would hold direct talks with Iran on the turmoil in Iraq.

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.