Thu Mar 15 23:48:37 200717

Fetching...
 
YOU ARE HERE: Homepage > Newsdesk > Article
No plans to meet Iran, but could change-U.S. envoy
04 Mar 2007 17:32:17 GMT
Source: Reuters

WASHINGTON, March 4 (Reuters) - The U.S. ambassador to Iraq said on Sunday there were no plans to meet face-to-face with Iran during this week's regional meeting in Baghdad, but he is prepared to talk to Iranians about weapons used to kill U.S. forces in Iraq.

"We have not decided at this point with regard to anything bilateral, but we'll be prepared to play our role as constructively as possible," Zalmay Khalilzad said when asked about direct talks with Iran on CNN's "Late Edition with Wolf Blitzer."

Khalilzad will represent the United States at the regional meeting on the fate of Iraq beginning on Saturday that will be attended by Iraq's neighbors including Iran and Syria, two nations U.S. President George W. Bush has accused of helping destabilize Iraq.

"There has been some recent indications that they are interested in a dialogue with regard to Iraq," Khalilzad said of Iran.

But he said there still was a great deal of concern about EFPs -- the explosively formed projectiles that have been especially deadly to U.S. military patrols in Iraq and U.S. officials say are coming over the border from Iran.

"We are prepared to talk to Iranians with regard to these sort of activities," Khalilzad said. "The purpose of any bilateral talks will be the security of our forces."

He said he believed the weapons came from the Qods Force of Iran's Revolutionary Guard, but as to how high in the Iranian leadership the decision is made, "I'm not in a position to shed any light on that."

Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki invited neighboring countries, Egypt and the Arab League and the permanent members of the U.N. Security Council to meet on March 10 in Baghdad to try to win support for his government and try to reconcile fighting forces within Iraq.

Khalilzad said that was still the focus.

"This is a multilateral meeting at the invitation of Iraq," he said. "The purpose is to get the neighbors to contribute to stabilizing Iraq."
AlertNet news is provided by

Delicio.us  |   Digg  |   NewsVine  |   Reddit                                                                                  Permalink
Thumb for /thefacts/imagerepository/RTRPICT/2007-03-15T172047Z_01_WAS712_RTRIDSP_2_USA_mainimage.jpg|/thenews/pictures/WAS712.htm
Thumb for /thefacts/imagerepository/RTRPICT/2007-03-15T171938Z_01_WAS711_RTRIDSP_2_USA_mainimage.jpg|/thenews/pictures/WAS711.htm
Thumb for /thefacts/imagerepository/RTRPICT/2007-03-15T171827Z_01_WAS710_RTRIDSP_2_USA_mainimage.jpg|/thenews/pictures/WAS710.htm
Thumb for /thefacts/imagerepository/RTRPICT/2007-03-14T113221Z_01_BAG202_RTRIDSP_2_IRAQ-SADDAM-SONS_mainimage.jpg|/thenews/pictures/BAG202.htm
Thumb for /thefacts/imagerepository/RTRPICT/2007-03-14T113049Z_01_BAG201_RTRIDSP_2_IRAQ-SADDAM-SONS_mainimage.jpg|/thenews/pictures/BAG201.htm

Members from the anti-war group CODEPINK protest against the supplement bill funding the Iraq war during a demonstration in front of the Rayburn House building on Capitol Hill in Washington March 15, 2007.