TEHRAN, Iran – The United States and Iran said Sunday they will hold upcoming talks in Baghdad about improving Iraq’s security – a political turnabout for the two countries with the most influence over Iraq’s future.
Expectations of progress remain low, however, with tough issues at stake and mutual suspicions running high.
Vice President Dick Cheney’s spokeswoman, Lea Anne McBride, confirmed the upcoming talks, saying the vice president supports the move – as long as they focus solely on Iraq.
McBride said the willingness to talk with the Iranians about security issues in Iraq is consistent with U.S. policy and does not reflect a new position.
Iran agreed to the talks “after consultation with Iraqi officials, in order to lessen the pain of the Iraqi people, support the Iraqi government and establish security and peace in Iraq,” the state-run news agency, IRNA, quoted Foreign Ministry spokesman Mohammad Ali Hosseini as saying.
Iraqi leaders have leaned on the Bush administration to try to cooperate with Iran in the interest of stabilizing their country. Likewise, some Mideast Arab allies of the United States – increasingly distrustful of Iraq’s Shiite-led government – have pushed for talks with Iran as a way to reduce sectarian tensions in the country and stop attacks against Sunnis.
Iran has stressed that it sees the U.S. military presence in Iraq as a serious threat to its security. The United States sees Iran as the biggest threat to Iraq’s stability, accusing Tehran of supplying Shiite militias with deadly roadside bombs that kill American troops. Iran denies the accusations.
The timing of the upcoming talks in Baghdad was unclear, but Gordon Johndroe, the White House’s National Security Council spokesman, and Iraq’s foreign minister, Hoshyar Zebari, both said they expected them to occur sometime in the next few weeks. The talks could be between the U.S. ambassador to Iraq, Ryan Crocker, and the Iranians, Johndroe said.
Also Sunday, Iran confirmed that it has detained a prominent Iranian-American academic, and a hardline newspaper accused her of spying for the United States and Israel and trying to start a revolution inside Iran.
Haleh Esfandiari, director of the Middle East Program at the Woodrow Wilson Center for Scholars in Washington, went to Iran on a personal visit to see her ailing mother last year. She had been prohibited from leaving for four months, then was sent Tuesday to Iran’s notorious Evin prison after arriving at the Intelligence Ministry for questioning, the institute said.
Iran’s Foreign Ministry confirmed her arrest for the first time Sunday, saying it was “based on law” and that the 67-year-old Esfandiari would be treated like other Iranian nationals. It gave no reason for the arrest.
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