Crocker: U.S.-Iran talks 'not terribly relevant'; Says Iranian support for militas rising; Describes 'heated exchanges'

Above: Iranian and U.S. diplomats meeting at Iraqi Prime Minister Maliki's office in Baghdad today.

Iranian support for militias in Iraq rising: U.S.

Iranian support for militias who are destabilizing Iraq has risen since the United States and Iran held breakthrough talks in Baghdad in May, the U.S. envoy to Iraq said on Tuesday after a fresh round of discussions.

Ryan Crocker told a news conference after talks on Iraq's security crisis with his Iranian counterpart that much of the dialogue was "not terribly relevant."

"The two months since May have not exactly been encouraging," Crocker said after meeting Iranian ambassador Hassan Kazemi-Qomi for several hours.

"The fact is, and we made very clear in today's talk, that over the roughly two months we have actually seen militia-related activities that can be attributed to Iranian support go up and not down."

There was no immediate response from the Iranian delegation.

Read the rest at Yahoo News

US, Iran in “heated exchange” in rare talks

US charges that Iran was spurring on sectarian strife in Iraq and fuelling terrorism in the Middle East led to tension and heated debate in rare talks Tuesday between the two arch enemies.

“There were several heated exchanges in the course of the day,” US ambassador to Iraq Ryan Crocker, who led to the US side to the talks in Baghdad, told Washington-based reporters by telephone...

Crocker said the heated arguments erupted when he accused Iran of providing direct support to extremist militias -- both training and actual weapons -- and that Washington “got the proof.”

Qomi “took exception to that,” Crocker said, adding that a ”brief summary” of the evidence was provided by the United States at the talks...

Tensions also filled the air when Crocker raised Iran’s alleged support for terrorism throughout the region, including for Hezbollah and Hamas, to which “they took exception.”

He said the meeting could not be described as a “shouting match throughout” but the United States was “real clear” over “problems about their behavior.”

Read the rest at Khaleej Times

Iran, Iraq and U.S. to set up security committee

Iran, Iraq and the United States have agreed to set up a security subcommittee to carry forward their talks on restoring stability in Iraq, the American ambassador said Tuesday at the end of a second round of groundbreaking talks in the Iraqi capital with his Iranian counterpart.

"We discussed ways forward and one of the issues we discussed was the formation of a security subcommittee that would address at a expert or technical level some issues relating to security, be that support for violent militias, Al Qaeda or border security," the U.S. ambassador, Ryan Crocker, said after the meeting. The Iraqi foreign minister, Hoshyar Zebari, said officials would meet as early as Wednesday to work out how the panel will operate.

"We hope that the next round of talks will be on a higher level if progress is made," Zebari said.

Read the rest at the International Herald Tribune

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