Iran and the United States return to talks, on Iraqi security
Teheran announces a second round of direct talks “soon” with the USA, but they have yet to be confirmed. Negotiations over its nuclear programme continue with the IAEA.

Teheran (AsiaNews/Agencies) – Iran’s Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki has announced that a second round of talks between Iran and the US on Iraq's security might be held in “the near future”, but they have yet to be confirmed. The news was reported by the state agency IRNA, Mottaki made the remarks at a joint press conference with his Omani counterpart Yusuf Bin Alawi in Tehran.

Iraqi officials have extended an invitation to an Iranian delegation to attend the next summit on the nation’s security; but Tehran clarified that they have called on US officials to inform them through the official channel that is Swiss embassy which takes care of US interests in Iran. Mottaki has assured that their response will be “without doubt a positive one”.

At the end of May, Iran and the United States, a “delinquent state” and the “great Satan”, met for the first time almost in 30 years to discuss the Iraqi crises, in a subtext of mutual accusations over security and peace in the Middle East.  But beyond the symbolic value of the encounter, there seem to have been no immediate results.

Regarding the request put forward by IAEA chief El Baradei in relation to talks between Usa and Iran son the nuclear question, Teheran’s foreign minister has replied that it will be taken into consideration and that the response “will be made public”. He also confirmed that American troops have prepared the ground for a meeting between the “five Iranian diplomats kidnapped in Iraq (considered secret agents by the US) and their families”, while collaboration with the IAEA is continuing “to reach a common accord on the nuclear question”.