Thursday, November 02, 2006
Iran, U.S. to hold talks on Iraq
Region, Security
During a visit to the United Kingdom, former Iranian President (1997-2005) Hojatoleslam Mohammad Khatami said the "ground is prepared" for his country and the United States to hold direct talks about Iraq, AFP reported, citing the U.K.'s Channel 4. Khatami said such talks could take place under the auspices of the United Nations. Washington called for direct talks on Iraqi affairs in October 2005, and Tehran initially agreed to this in March before Iranian officials subsequently said there is no need to hold the talks. Khatami went on to say that he doubts Iran is militarily active in Iraq. "The security of Iraq is quite important to us, because anything that would contribute to security in Iraq or add to the violence among the Shi'a and Sunnis and instability, the first one that would lose would be Iran, of course," he added.
