.bmp)
.bmp)
BAGHDAD-Iran has postponed a fourth round of talks with the United States in Baghdad on improving security in Iraq, prompting U.S. officials on Thursday to question Tehran's commitment to the dialogue.Iran's ambassador to Baghdad blamed "technical issues" for the last-minute delay to discussions that were to be held on Friday, but did not elaborate.The U.S.-Iranian security talks are one of the few forums in which officials from the two bitter foes have direct contact.Diplomatic ties between Washington and Tehran have been frozen for almost three decades.Iraqi Foreign Minister Hoshiyar Zebari called the Iranian postponement "unfortunate.""Yesterday we were informed that the Iranians want to postpone this for some time.This is the fourth time that we agreed on a date and they don't show up," Zebari told Reuters.Iraq later said Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad would visit Baghdad on March 2 for talks with Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki and other senior officials in what would be the first visit by a president of the Islamic Republic.U.S. and Iranian officials met three times last year to seek common ground on stabilizing Iraq in talks arranged by the Baghdad government. The last time was in August.Washington has used the talks to urge Iran to stop giving weapons and training to Shi'ite militias in Iraq, including armor-piercing bombs known as explosively formed penetrators (EFPs) that have killed hundreds of U.S. troops.Tehran denies the charges and blames the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq in 2003 for violence in its neighbor. Both sides are also embroiled in a row over Iran's nuclear ambitions. Hassan Kazemi-Qomi, Iran's ambassador to Iraq, said Tehran still wanted to hold the talks."This was supposed to take place on this week's Friday, but based on latest evaluation and because of technical issues, these negotiations have been postponed," he told the official Iranian news agency IRNA.U.S. SAYS IT'S READY
U.S. embassy spokeswoman Mirembe Nantongo said it appeared Iranian officials were unwilling to meet their U.S. counterparts."We have been ready for weeks. We are happy to sit down for the talks but it's increasingly clear Iran is not," she said.Iraqi government spokesman Ali al-Dabbagh told Reuters Tehran had requested a postponement of a "few more days."Zebari said all sides saw value in the dialogue, adding Iran had been helping stem violence in Iraq, partly by stopping some weapons coming across the border.He also said Iran had been influential in reining in the activities of the Mehdi Army militia of Shi'ite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr.The anti-American cleric declared a ceasefire last August that has been credited with helping cut violence. "The number and amount of weapons and EFP technology, less is coming across the border, according to the Americans and to our intelligence. So on these two accounts they have been helpful," Zebari said."It doesn't mean they are not interfering and not intervening.This is a friendly government to Iran and it would be contradictory for them on the one hand to support the government and on the other hand to support the militias."Iran and Iraq fought an eight-year war in the 1980s in which hundreds of thousands were killed, but ties have improved since Saddam Hussein was ousted in the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq in 2003 and a Shi'ite Islamist-led government came to power.Dabbagh said Ahmadinejad would visit Iraq for two days at the invitation of President Jalal Talabani."It's significant in the sense that Iraq wants to have good relations with Iran (but) there should be no interference in Iraq's internal affairs," Dabbagh said of the visit.White House spokesman Gordon Johndroe said the U.S. government wanted the two countries to have good relations."The fastest way for that to happen is for Iran to stop supporting extremists in Iraq who kill innocent Iraqis and Americans,"he said in a statement.
As in the days of Noah....
