BAGHDAD, 29 May 2007 — The United States and Iran traded accusations over the bloodshed in Iraq yesterday during the first high-level direct official talks between the archfoes in 27 years.
US Ambassador to Iraq Ryan Crocker accused Iran of fomenting unrest in the country by funneling weapons and training extremist militias, and called on Tehran to live up to its promises to support stability.
His Iranian counterpart Hassan Kazemi Qomi, however, accused the US military of not doing enough to arm Iraqi government forces and said the Islamic Republic was prepared to step in and do this itself.
The first such encounter since the two countries severed diplomatic ties in 1980 lasted four hours, and afterward Iran’s envoy sounded keener on holding further talks than his US counterpart.
Crocker said he had insisted that Iran must back up its stated support for Prime Minister Nuri Al-Maliki’s beleaguered government by halting its backing for armed factions fighting in Iraq.
“The purpose of our efforts in this meeting was not to build a legal case — presumably the Iranians know what they were doing. Our point was simply to say what we know as well; this is dangerous for Iraq,” he said. “What we underscored to the Iranians was that beyond principle there is practice,” he said. “The Iranian actions on the ground have to come into harmony with their principles.”
The Iranians proposed creating a trilateral security commission involving Iraqis and US representatives, a suggestion Crocker dismissed.
“What we are doing today effectively is a security committee because on the level of policy there isn’t a great deal to argue about,” he said.
Crocker said the Iranians did not address specific US complaints, but instead criticized the American occupation as a whole and complained that US efforts to train Iraqi security forces were inadequate.
Kazemi Qomi described the meeting as positive but blamed the violence in Iraq on the US military presence. He also offered to arm the Iraqi government.
“The Iraqi government is in need of strong military and security structure to confront its security problems and we have offered all forms of assistance such as weapons, training and equipment,” he told reporters.
“The negotiations today were an important first step between the two sides,” he said. “The Iraqi government said it will invite the two sides to resume negotiations and we received this proposal positively.” Kazemi Qomi added, however, that he would have to consult with Tehran, and one of his assistants said that no date had been set for a follow-up meeting. “If it is possible, it will happen,” the assistant said.
There had been little expectation that the envoys would see eye-to-eye over the Iraq crisis, with the Foreign Ministry in Tehran on the eve of the talks accusing US agents of sponsoring subversion in its border provinces. Washington has dismissed similar accusations in the past, but mutual distrust continues to chill Iranian-American relations a quarter of a century after diplomats in the US Embassy in Tehran were held hostage for 444 days.
The United States accuses Iran’s Revolutionary Guards of supplying armed groups in Iraq with armor-piercing roadside bombs that have been blamed for the deaths of hundreds of the 3,455 American troops killed in the conflict.
US forces are holding seven alleged Revolutionary Guards agents detained in Iraq on suspicion of subversion, men Iran insists are diplomats.
