IRAQ Talks to address Iran's actions

Iran has expressed concerns about the sectarian fighting in Iraq.
BAGHDAD, Iraq (AP) -- The American ambassador said Friday he wants U.S.-Iranian talks about Iraq -- a first between the two antagonists since the U.S. invasion -- to be held in Baghdad and focus on "our concern with Iranian policies in Iraq."
Tehran's foreign minister predicted the groundbreaking session, if it happens, could untangle the Iraqi political crisis and open the way for a new government.
But members of Iraq's Sunni Arab minority objected to any discussions with Shiite-dominated Iran, which they accuse of interfering with Iraq's affairs.
In an interview with The Associated Press at the U.S. Embassy, Ambassador Zalmay Khalilzad insisted there would be no bargaining with Iran.
"We are not entering into negotiations about Iraq with Iran. The Iraqis will decide the future of Iraq. We have concerns -- and I've spoken about them -- with regard to Iranian policy in Iraq," said the Afghan-born ambassador, who can speak with Iranians in a common language -- his native Dari is a Persian dialect.
But the United States has not decided whether to talk to Iran about its alleged support for armed militias in Iraq, a U.S. official said, speaking on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to announce any conclusion.
How this came about
Iran's offer Thursday to hold direct talks on Iraq came in response to a call by the senior Iraqi Shiite politician, Abdul-Aziz al-Hakim.
"I demand the leadership in Iran to open a clear dialogue with America about Iraq," al-Hakim, who has close ties with Iran, said Wednesday. "It is in the interests of the Iraqi people that such dialogue is opened and reaches an understanding on various issues."
Iran has expressed grave concern about the sectarian fighting and reprisal killings in neighboring Iraq, and, some believe, would not want responsibility for a raging civil war across the border if U.S. troops withdraw.
But President Bush's national security adviser, Steven J. Hadley, said Friday that Iran's proposal is probably a ploy designed to "divert pressure and divert attention" from international concern that Tehran wants a nuclear bomb.
"What is interesting is that the Iranians would choose now, at this moment, in such a very public way, to embrace this idea and try to expand it to a negotiation about a broader set of issues," Hadley said.
Khalilzad and the top Iranian diplomat, Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki, agreed that any talks would be limited to Iraq -- not the angry standoff over Iran's nuclear program, which Tehran insists is for peaceful purposes.
White House press secretary Scott McClellan reinforced Khalilzad's stand that there would be no negotiations.
"Repeatedly, we have expressed our concerns about Iran's behavior in Iraq, and about their activities in Iraq. And so that would be the sole purpose of the discussion," McClellan said.
"Now, any negotiations about Iraq would have to occur with the Iraqi leaders," he said. "The Iraqi people are the ones who are charting their own future."
But Iraqi Sunnis objected to any U.S.-Iranian engagement.
"Iran is interfering deeply in Iraqi affairs, and the Iraqi people are afraid that a deal might be settled between Iran and America at the expense of Iraq's independence," said Bashar al-Faydi, a spokesman for the Association of Muslim Scholars.
Accusations against Iran
The United States has accused Iran of meddling in Iraqi politics and of sending weapons and men across the border to stir up trouble.
Iranian activities in Iraq that the United States finds troubling arise from a mixture of geography, history, religion and politics.
The majority of Iraqis are Shiite Muslims. The overwhelming majority of Iranians belong to that sect and are governed by a Shiite theocracy. Many important Shiite religious shrines are located in Iraq, meaning that thousands of pilgrims routinely cross the countries' long, common border.
During the rule of Saddam Hussein, his Sunni minority brutally oppressed Iraqi Shiites, forcing many to flee to Iran. Since Saddam was toppled in the U.S.-led invasion three years ago, Shiite exiles have flooded back. Some have become political and religious heavyweights in the country's new power structure.
That leaves Iran -- a member of Bush's "axis of evil" -- with what the U.S. sees as undue political and religious influence in Iraq.
Further complicating relations, Iraq's largest Shiite political bloc, the Supreme Council for the Islamic Revolution in Iraq, draws political and religious support from two men who spent long years in Iran. The SCIRI-linked militia, the Badr Brigade, has deep roots in Iran, as well.
Despite the sectarian link between majority Shiites in Persian Iran and mostly Arab Iraq, nationalist sentiments also divide them. Memories have not faded in either Iran or Iraq of their 1980-88 war, a conflict that was started by Saddam and left a million people dead on both sides.
The U.S.-Iranian relationship is also heavily freighted with deep suspicion on both sides.
What happened
A defining moment was the 1979 Islamic Revolution in Iran, which overthrew the shah, a steadfast Washington ally. Then came the hostage crisis in which Americans were seized and held in Tehran for 444 days.
The 54-year-old Khalilzad has held talks with Iranians before, when he was ambassador to his homeland, Afghanistan, Iran's neighbor to the east.
"I was authorized by the president of the United States to talk with the Iranians about our concerns about Afghanistan. So I'm doing the same thing now here," he said.
"I think we would assume since these discussions are with regard to our concern with Iranian policies in Iraq that it [the talks] should be in Baghdad," Khalilzad said.
The Iranians left no doubt about their agenda.
"The Islamic Republic of Iran will hold talks with the United States about Iraq to help the process of building a government there, and to support the Iraqi people," Mottaki said in a speech to worshippers who had gathered at Tehran University for the Friday prayers sermon.
He did not explain how Iran could be helpful in breaking a deadlock over an Iraqi government, although the logjam is primarily based on sectarian and ethnic objections from Sunnis and Kurds to the nomination of Ibrahim al-Jaafari, a Shiite, for another term as prime minister.