US: Stop backing Iraq militias

2007-05-28 16:37

Mariam Karouny and Fredrik Dahl

Baghdad - The United States urged Iran on Monday to stop supporting militias in Iraq but described the two countries' most high-profile meeting in almost 30 years as positive.

The meeting in Baghdad between the US and Iranian ambassadors to Iraq covered only sectarian violence in Iraq and did not touch on Iran's controversial nuclear programme, the most contentious issue in US-Iranian relations.

The meeting, which began with a handshake, also ended without any agreement on a date for a further talks.

But it marked a shift in the US policy of shunning almost all contact with Iranian officials since Washington severed formal diplomatic ties with Tehran in 1980, 14 months after Iran's Islamic Revolution and five months after Americans were seized in a hostage crisis at the US embassy in Tehran.

"The talks proceeded positively. What we need to see is Iranian action on the ground," said Crocker, the US ambassador to Iraq. "Right now their actions are running at crossed purposes to their stated policy."

There was no immediate comment from the Iranian team led by Hassan Kazemi-Qomi, Iran's ambassador to Iraq.

Crocker and Kazemi-Qomi met at the Iraqi prime minister's office, and shook hands before sitting across the table from each other.

"I laid out before the Iranians a number of our direct, specific concerns about their behaviour in Iraq, their support for militias that are fighting both the Iraqi security forces and coalition forces," Crocker said.

'Trilateral mechanism'

"The fact (is) that a lot of the explosives and ammunitions that are used by these groups are coming in from Iran. Such activities need to cease and we would be looking for results," he added.

Crocker said the Iranian delegation did not respond directly to the charges other than to express support for the Iraqi government of Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki.

He said the Iranians described the US presence in Iraq as an "occupation" and that US efforts to train Iraq's security forces to take over, eventually allowing a US troop withdrawal, were inadequate.

Crocker said he would take to Washington a suggestion by the Iranian delegation that a "trilateral mechanism" on Iraqi security should be set up.

The US military has put on display what it says are Iranian-made rockets, mortars and sophisticated roadside bombs seized in Iraq.

Iran denies the charge and has called on US forces to leave Iraq, saying their presence is fuelling sectarian violence between majority Shi'ites and Sunni Arabs who were dominant under Saddam.

While mid-ranking officials from Iran and the US have met occasionally in the past, Monday's talks are the most widely publicised bilateral talks since the start of the 1980s.

The talks did not touch on Tehran's standoff with the West over its nuclear programme. Iran says its atomic work is for the peaceful generation of electricity but the US says it is being used to develop a nuclear bomb.

- Reuters