TEHRAN, 4 August 2007 — Iran, the United States and Iraq will hold expert level talks next week to define the work of a security committee they agreed to set up in July to help restore security in Iraq, an Iranian news agency reported yesterday.
The two archfoes, Tehran and Washington, which cut diplomatic relations shortly after Iran’s 1979 revolution, held two rounds of rare talks in Baghdad in May and July to find ways to improve security in Iraq.
In the second round of talks, held on July 24 in Baghdad, representatives from the United States, Iran and Iraq agreed to establish a trilateral committee to investigate issues such as support for militias and Al-Qaeda in Iraq. “To define what issues the (security) committee would discuss and in what framework it will start its work, an agreement was reached to hold expertise meetings,” Iran’s envoy to Baghdad Hassan Kazemi Qomi told the ISNA news agency. “This will take place early next week,” the envoy added.
Washington accuses Iran of stirring up violence in Iraq. Iran denies the charge and blames the US-led invasion in 2003 for the bloodshed between Iraq’s majority Shiite and minority Sunni Arabs.
The two rounds of Baghdad talks, which only dealt with the situation in Iraq, were the highest profile face-to-face dialogue between Iran and the United States since 1979.
