US, Iran talks on Iraq to begin May 28

TALKS ON: Iranian Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki speaks as his Iraqi counterpart Hoshyar Zebari.

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Islamabad (Pakistan): US-Iranian talks about Iraq's security will begin on May 28, Iran's foreign minister said on Thursday, keeping up Tehran's call for foreign troops to leave Iraq.

Manouchehr Mottaki said the negotiations would be exclusively about Iraq and that a first meeting in the presence of Iraqi officials would try to set a more detailed agenda.

''Nothing but Iraq is on the agenda,'' he told reporters in Islamabad, where he has been attending a ministerial meeting of the Organisation of the Islamic Conference.

In Baghdad, US Ambassador Ryan Crocker appeared unaware of Mottaki's announcement, saying only that he hoped the talks would take place by the end of the month.

''I'm ready to sit down anytime they like,'' Crocker, who is to lead the US delegation, told reporters.

Crocker said the US will be pushing Iran to be a helpful neighbor, singling out allegations that Tehran is providing militants in Iraq with powerful roadside bombs that have been used to deadly effect against American troops.

He declined to be more specific about items that might be on the agenda, but said the talks would be an opportunity for Iran to move into a ''whole new era in its relationship with Iraq.''

Mottaki also gave no details of what Iran wanted to discuss. But he reiterated Tehran's objection to the continued presence of US soldiers in its western neighbor.

''We do believe that a correct approach to Iraq should look to both points or both areas of the difficulty. Terrorists say that 'we are doing this because of the foreign forces,' and the foreign forces saying that 'we are here because of the terrorist groups,''' he said.

The agreement to hold the talks is seen as a political turnabout, but tensions between Washington and Tehran have been escalating.

The US accuses Iran of arming and financing militants in Iraq - a claim Iran denies - and the two sides are also at loggerheads over Tehran's nuclear program.