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25 May 2007

Iran, United States To Discuss Iraqi Security on May 28

State Department hopes Iran will match supportive rhetoric with action

By Stephen Kaufman
USINFO Staff Writer

Washington -- Representatives from Iran and the United States are scheduled to hold talks in Baghdad, Iraq, May 28 on issues related to Iraq and efforts to improve its security.

State Department deputy spokesman Tom Casey said May 25 that U.S. Ambassador to Iraq Ryan Crocker and other officials from the U.S. Embassy in Baghdad will meet with Iranian officials, as well as representatives from the Iraqi government, to “see that everything be done to have Iran and the rest of Iraq's neighbors engage in positive behavior, [and] engage in efforts to help the Iraqis achieve their objectives. “

According to Iran’s official news agency, IRNA, Hassan Kazemi, Iran’s ambassador to Iraq, has been designated to head the Iranian delegation.

The Bush administration regards the meeting, which Casey termed “the Baghdad channel” as “an outgrowth” of the May 3-4 Iraq Neighbors’ Conference that was held in Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt.  (See related article.)

The talks will focus “very solely on Iraq issues,” he said, and the U.S. delegation plans to raise concerns over Iran’s behavior, including supporting sectarian militias in Iraq and providing them with incendiary explosive devices and other explosives, as well as “concerns about Iranian interference in the political process in Iraq.”

These are “not new issues,” Casey said, adding that the United States hopes the Iranian delegation will discuss “specific actions they'd be willing to take to deal with these kinds of concerns,” rather than merely “rhetorical statements of support.”

The spokesman said prior Iranian statements expressing a desire to see a peaceful, stable Iraq “haven't been backed up by actions.   In fact, the actions have contradicted those statements.”

“[T]he ball really is in their court,” Casey said, adding “we'll have a chance to sit down with them and see what happens.”

For more information on U.S. policy, see Iraq Update.

(USINFO is produced by the Bureau of International Information Programs, U.S. Department of State. Web site: http://usinfo.state.gov)