Now, whatdya do?
America Held Hostage -- Redux.
Iran said that it would not hold talks with the United States on Iraq while American forces were fighting Shiite militias in Sadr City, the Iranian Foreign Ministry reported on its Web site on Monday.
Officials from the United States and Iran met in Baghdad at least three times last year to discuss stability and security in Iraq. Washington has repeatedly accused Iran of arming, training and financing Shiite militias, some of which then attack American forces. Most recently, American officials charged that militants from the Lebanese group Hezbollah were training Iraqi militiamen at a camp near Tehran. Iran denies any such activity.
In a briefing in Tehran on Monday, the Foreign Ministry spokesman, Mohammad Ali Hosseini, said another round of talks would be ineffective while what he called American “occupying forces” were undertaking “indiscriminate bombardment of Iraqi residential areas.”
“Given the current circumstances, holding the next round of talks would have no result and makes no sense,” Mr. Hosseini said, according to the ministry’s Web site.
The discussions, in May, July and August of last year, involved Ambassador Ryan C. Crocker and his Iranian counterpart, Hassan Kazemi-Qomi. Though little progress was reported, the talks were nevertheless deemed significant by the Iraqi government, which continues to urge the Iranians and the Americans not to allow their differences to further destabilize the situation in Iraq.
Last month Mr. Crocker said in an interview that there had been no substantive change in Iranian behavior in Iraq, despite the talks held last year.
He said that the paramilitary branch of the Iranian Revolutionary Guards Corps was continuing to direct attacks by Shiite militias against American and Iraqi targets, although he offered no direct evidence.
Last week, Prime Minister Nuri Kamal al-Maliki of Iraq sent several senior Shiite leaders to Tehran to discuss their concerns that Iran was arming and financing militias in Iraq. |
