Middle-east Arab News Opinion | Asharq Al-awsat

Iran team in Iraq for security talks with US-report | ASHARQ AL-AWSAT English Archive 2005 -2017
Select Page

TEHRAN, (Reuters) – An Iranian delegation arrived in Baghdad on Wednesday for a new round of talks with U.S. officials on security in Iraq, an Iranian news agency said, but an Iraqi official said no date for the meeting had been set.

Easing a diplomatic freeze lasting almost three decades, Iranian and U.S. officials held three round of talks last year on ways to help end violence in Iraq. A fourth meeting that was supposed to take place in February was postponed.

“Based on the prediction of the Iraqi government the fourth round of … talks about Iraq’s security … is supposed to take place on Thursday,” Reza Amiri-Moghadam, head of the Iranian delegation, was quoted as saying by the ISNA news agency. “The Islamic Republic of Iran attaches a great deal of value to the provision of security in Iraq and will do its best in order to achieve this goal,” he said after arriving in the Iraqi capital. But Iraqi government spokesman Ali al-Dabbagh told Reuters: “So far, no date has been set.”

ISNA said the talks would be held at the level of experts, but the Iraqi spokesman said he expected them to take place at both ambassadorial and security committee level.