IRAQ - US-Iran Talks.

Bilateral talks in Baghdad were resumed on July 24 by US Ambassador Ryan Crocker and his Iranian counterpart Hassan Kazemi Qomi. They agreed to set up a three-state security committee with Iraq despite the fact that Crocker accused Tehran of stepping up support for militias in Iraq and State Department spokesman Sean McCormack said Washington had no plans to open higher-level talks with Iran.

After a cabinet meeting in Tehran, Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki on July 25 said Iran was ready to consider higher-level talks, adding: "The issue of negotiations between Iran and the US about Iraq at the level of deputy foreign ministers is reviewable". He said "necessary studies will be undertaken" in case a "formal request" was made by the US for new, higher-level talks on Iraq.

Iraqi Foreign Minister Hoshyar Zebari said experts would meet soon to work out the structure and mechanism of the tripartite committee, telling a news conference after the Baghdad talks: "We hope that the next round of talks will be on a higher level if progress is made". But underscoring rising tensions between the two foes, Ambassador Crocker reiterated accusations that Iran was fuelling the violence in Iraq by arming and training Shi'ite militias. He warned that no progress could be made unless Iranian actions changed on the ground. Qomi countered that Tehran was helping Iraq deal with security but that Iraqis were "victimised by terror and the presence of foreign forces" on their territory.

Qomi said his delegation demanded the release of five Iranians detained by US forces in Iraq. The US says the five are linked to Quds Force of Iran's elite IRGC, which it has accused of arming and training Iraqi militants. Iran says the five are diplomats who were legally in Iraq. (The US severed diplomatic ties with Iran after the 1979 storming of the US Embassy in Tehran and the holding of American hostages for 444 days).