Special report: Tension escalates in Iraq

Special report: Iran Nuclear Crisis 

    TEHRAN, May 17 (Xinhua) -- Iran's chief nuclear negotiator Ali Larijani said on Thursday that the United States can count on Iran' s help in Iraq if it changes strategy, the official IRNA news agency reported.

    "In case there is a change in the strategy of the U.S., they can count on our assistance," he told a joint press conference with Omani Foreign Minister Yusuf Bin Alawi.

    Larijani, who is also secretary of Iran's Supreme National Security Council (SNSC), said the United States needs to change its strategy by establishing security and stability in Iraq to help Iraqi people to get rid of pain and hard conditions.

    "Since the Iraqi government has asked for our assistance for several times, in this case, they can count on our help," he added.

    Iranian Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki said earlier Thursday in Pakistani capital of Islamabad that Iranian and U.S. officials will meet in Iraq on May 28 to discuss security in Iraq.

    Mottaki told a press conference on the sidelines of the foreign ministers' meeting of the Organization of the Islamic Conference (OIC) that Iraq would be the only topic of the Iran-U.S. talks.

    Mottaki said that Iraqi officials would be present at the Iran-U.S. talks to be held at the request of Iraqi leaders. The talks will be at the at the level of ambassador, he added.

    Iranian supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei on Wednesday stated that Tehran's policy of not negotiating with Washington was unchanged though there will be talks with the United States over Iraq.

    The talks would not mean a breakthrough between the two foes as Iran would merely use the talks with U.S. diplomats to remind Washington of its "occupiers' duty" in the war-torn Iraq, state-run television quoted Khamenei as saying.

    "The Iranian foreign ministry, at the request of Iraq, decided to participate in face-to-face talks with the United States and remind them of their duties and responsibilities over the security of Iraq," said the Iranian leader.

    Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Mohammad-Ali Hosseini said on Sunday that Tehran has agreed to hold talks with the United States on Iraq.

    "Following consultations between Iranian and Iraqi officials, Tehran has agreed to hold negotiations with Washington," Hosseini was quoted by the official IRNA news agency as saying at his weekly press conference.

    The talks are aimed to "relieve pains and suffering of the Iraqi people, support and strengthen the government of Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki and stabilize security and peace in that country," Hosseini said.

    The latest Iranian move comes just over a week after Mottaki and U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice exchanged brief greetings by saying hello to each other during an international conference on Iraq's security in the Egyptian Red Sea resort of Sharm el-Sheikh.

    Iran and the United States also held expert-level talks on the sideline of the international meeting on Iraq's security.

    Iran, U.S. officials to meet on Iraq

    ISLAMABAD, May 17 (Xinhua) -- Iranian and U.S. officials will meet in Iraq on May 28 to discuss security in Iraq, Iranian Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki said here Thursday.

    He told a press conference on the sidelines of the foreign ministers' meeting of the Organization of the Islamic Conference (OIC) that Iraq would be the only topic of the Iran-U.S. talks. Full story

    Iran's Khamenei says unchanged in policy of not negotiating with Washington

    TEHRAN, May 16 (Xinhua) -- Iranian supreme leader Ayatollah AliKhamenei on Wednesday stated that Tehran's policy of not negotiating with Washington was unchanged though there will be talks with the United States over Iraq.

    The talks would not mean a breakthrough between the two foes as Iran would merely use the talks with U.S. diplomats to remind Washington of its "occupiers' duty" in the conflict-torn Iraq, state-run television quoted Khamenei as saying. Full story

    Iran, U.S. hold expert-level talks

    SHARM EL-SHEIKH, Egypt, May 4 (Xinhua) -- Iran and the United States held expert-level talks here Friday on the sideline of an international meeting on Iraqi security at this Egyptian Red Sea resort despite Tehran's harsh words against Washington.

    The meeting was firstly revealed by Iraqi Foreign Minister Hoshyar Zebari, who told a press conference following the Iraqi security meeting that the American-Iranian meeting took place at expert level, not at foreign minister level. Full story

    Iran: U.S. is in no position to start war

    TEHRAN, Feb. 24 (Xinhua) -- Iranian Foreign Minister said on Saturday that the United States was in no position to launch military strike against the Islamic Republic, stressing that talks were the only choice to resolve the nuclear standoff.

    "We do not see the U.S. in a position to impose another crisis on its tax payers by starting another war in the region," Manouchehr Mottaki told reporters during a press conference with his Bahraini counterpart, in a response to U.S. Vice President Dick Cheney's warnings over Tehran earlier Saturday. Full story