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TEHRAN, Dec 9 (Reuters) - Iraqi officials have proposed holding the next round of talks between the United States and Iran to discuss security in Iraq in January and Tehran is studying the idea, Iran's Foreign Ministry said on Sunday.

Officials from the two foes, at odds over who is to blame for violence in Iraq and Tehran's disputed nuclear ambitions, have held three rounds of discussions in Baghdad since May. The last meeting was in August.

Washington accuses Iran of arming, funding and training Shi'ite Muslim militias in Iraq. Tehran blames the sectarian violence, which has killed tens of thousands of Iraqis, on the U.S.-led invasion to topple Saddam Hussein in 2003.

"We have received a number of suggestions and recommendations from the Iraqi officials and they are proposing next January as the time for the next round of discussions," Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Mohammad Ali Hosseini said.

"We are now studying the proposal and we will decide about the level of participation," he told a news conference broadcast live on Iran's English-language Press TV.

Iran said in November it had agreed to hold a new round of talks with U.S. officials. The United States had also voiced its readiness for further discussions.

This year's Iranian-U.S. talks on Iraq's security situation eased a diplomatic freeze that lasted almost three decades, even though Tehran and Washington are embroiled in a row over Iran's nuclear ambitions.

Washington has accused Tehran of seeking to develop nuclear weapons, although a U.S. intelligence report this month said Iran had halted a programme to build atomic bombs in 2003.

Iran, the world's fourth largest oil producer, insists it never had plans to build nuclear weapons and says it wants to master technology used for generating electricity. (Writing by Edmund Blair; Editing by Dominic Evans)

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