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| Iraq | ||
| U.S., Iranian envoys meet in Baghdad | ||
| 2007-07-25 | ||
South of Baghdad, a suicide tow truck driver killed at least 24 people with a huge bomb in the Shiite city of Hillah. Police and morgue officials said a total of 58 people, including the Hillah victims, were killed or found dead nationwide. Speaking to reporters after a second session in two months with the Iranian envoy, Ambassador Ryan Crocker called the seven-hour meeting "full and frank," diplomatic language for difficult. The Bush administration does not appear to expect much if anything from the talks but seems willing to go forward with them because the high-powered and bipartisan Iraq Study Group, in a report late last year, recommended contacts with both Iran and Syria in a bid to end or ameliorate outside influences in Iraq as part of a plan to end the conflict. For its part, Iran appears to be enjoying the spectacle and prestige of negotiating with world's only superpower after more than a quarter-century freeze in open diplomatic contact. "We discussed ways forward, and one of the issues we discussed was the formation of a security subcommittee that would address at an expert or technical level some issues relating to security, be that support for violent militias, al-Qaida or border security," Crocker said. But he warned progress was impossible until Iran matches its behavior on the ground with its declarations backing an independent and stable Iraq. "The fact is, as we made very clear in today's talks, that over the roughly two months since our last meeting we've actually seen militia-related activity that could be attributed to Iranian support go up and not down," Crocker said, citing testimony from detainees and confiscated weapons and ammunition as evidence. "We made it clear to the Iranians that we know what they're doing (and) it's up to them to decide what they want to do about it," he said. In a later conference call with reporters in Washington, Crocker said portions of the long exchange were heated. "I would not describe this as a shouting match throughout, but we were real clear on what our problems with their behavior was, and I just didn't hesitate to let them know," Crocker said. Crocker said he expected the session to be testy, given the extensive list of U.S. complaints and the overall difficulty of the relationship. "We've got a lot of problems with the Iranians, and face to face we're not going to pull any punches," Crocker said. In a separate news conference after the talks, Iranian Ambassador Hassan Kazemi Qomi countered that Tehran was helping Iraq deal with the security situation but Iraqis were "victimized by terror and the presence of foreign forces" on their territory.
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| Posted by:lotp |