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TEHRAN - Iran and the United States will hold talks in Baghdad aimed at establishing security in Iraq, Iran's Foreign Ministry said today.
The United States responded by repeating its willingness to hold talks with Iran as long as they are limited to Iraq.
The timing of the talks was unclear, with the official IRNA news agency at first saying they would be next week but later reporting the date would become clear by Friday.
Talks are rare between Iran and the United States, which accuses Tehran both of backing Shi'ite militia in Iraq and seeking an atomic bomb -- a charge Iran denies. The two states have had no diplomatic ties for more than a quarter century.
"With the aim of easing the pain of the Iraqi people, supporting the Iraqi government and strengthening security in Iraq ... Iran will talk with the American side in Baghdad," IRNA quoted Foreign Ministry spokesman Mohammad Ali Hosseini as saying.
Hosseini's office, contacted by Reuters, confirmed his comments, but IRNA also quoted Hosseini as saying: "The place of talks is definitely Iraq. The exact date and level of the negotiating team will become clear by Friday."
A spokeswoman for US Vice President Dick Cheney said several US officials had expressed willingness to discuss Iraq and made clear that would be at ambassadorial level.
"We are willing to have that conversation, focused on Iraq, at that level. That has not changed," said Lea Anne McBride, a spokeswoman for Cheney, who was in Cairo meeting Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak as part of a Middle East trip.
Iran denies backing the insurgency in Iraq and accuses Washington of igniting tensions between Iraq's Shi'ite and Sunni Muslims. Analysts say Washington and Tehran are both concerned about worsening violence, pushing them to agree to meet.
Iranian Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki and US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice exchanged pleasantries at a lunch on the sidelines of a conference in Egypt this month on efforts to stabilise Iraq but held no substantive discussions.
The conference brought together Iraq's neighbours, including Iran and Syria, as well as officials from G8 nations and the European Union.
It was a follow-up to a meeting of senior officials in Baghdad in March, where Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki urged neighbours to do more to end bloodshed that has killed tens of thousands of Iraqis.
Hosseini said Iran's decision to hold talks with its arch enemy followed weeks of intense lobbying by Baghdad, which had sought to persuade Iran to engage in such talks.
Many experts say Tehran could play a big role in stabilising Iraq and this should be a major area of US-Iranian convergence.
"Tehran and Washington's cooperation over Iraq could be a turning point in stabilising Iraq," said political analyst Saeed Mesri.
Both sides acknowledge meeting one-on-one in recent years for discussions specific to Afghanistan, another neighbour of Iran where the United States launched a war.
Washington has been leading diplomatic efforts to isolate Iran over its nuclear programme. Iran has rejected repeated UN demands to halt uranium enrichment, which is used to make fuel for atomic power stations but also has military uses.
Iran, a major oil exporter, says it needs its atomic programme to satisfy its booming electricity demand.
- REUTERS
