New Chapter Set to Begin for US and Iran After Talks

May 29, 01:41 AM

Current Headlines: By James Montague

Iran and the United States resumed public diplomacy yesterday for the first time in more than a quarter of a century.

The meeting in Baghdad between ambassadors on security in Iraq could produce a chapter in world history for its success or a footnote for its failure.

Iraqi officials said the meeting between US Ambassador Ryan Crocker and Iranian Ambassador Hassan Kazemi Qomi was cordial.

The session ended after four hours.

Ali al-Dabagh, a government spokesman, said the meetings were cordial and focused solely on Iraq. "There are good intentions and understanding and commitment between the two countries," he said.

The talks were held at Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri Maliki's office in the Green Zone compound in Baghdad. Iraq was being represented at the talks by National Security Adviser Mowaffak al-Rubaie.

Maliki told both sides Iraqis want a stable country free of foreign forces and regional interference. The country should not be turned into a base for terrorist groups, he said.

He also said the US-led forces in Iraq were only here to help build up the army and police and the country would not be used as a launching ground for a US attack on a neighbour, a clear reference to Iran.

"We are sure that securing progress in this meeting would, without doubt, enhance the bridges of trust between the two countries and create a positive atmosphere" that would help them deal with other issues, he said.

Speaking in Tehran, Iranian Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki said the talks could lead to future meetings, but only if Washington admits its Middle East policy has not been successful.

"We are hopeful that Washington's realistic approach to the current issues of Iraq by confessing its failed policy in Iraq and the region and by showing a determination to changing the policy guarantees success of the talks and possible further talks," Mottaki said.

The talks were to have a pinpoint focus: What Washington and Tehran - separately or together - could do to contain the sectarian conflagration in Iraq. The positions - going in - are straightforward:

Washington wants Tehran to butt out - to stop arming, financing and training militants, particularly Shi'ite militias that are fighting American and Iraqi troops;

Tehran wants Washington out of Iraq, period.

"The American side has accusations against Iran and the Iranian side has some remarks on the presence of the American forces on Iraqi lands, which they see as a threat to their government," al- Dabagh said. But much more encumbers the narrow agenda - primarily Iran's nuclear program and more than a quarter-century of diplomatic estrangement after the 1979 Islamic revolution in Iran.

Further, the Iranian Shi'ite theocracy fears the Bush administration harbours plans for regime change in Tehran and could act on those desires as it did against Saddam Hussein in Iraq.

Analysis, Page 11

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