Iraq urges Tehran, Washington to resume talks

BAGHDAD / IraqiNews.com: The Iraqi ambassador to Iran said that his government has called on its Iranian and U.S. counterparts to hold a new round of three-way talks on Iraq . ” Baghdad is waiting for the two countries’ response on the matter,” Ambassador Mohammed Majeed al-Sheikh said during an interview with the official Iranian news agency, IRNA. A fourth round of U.S.-Iranian negotiations on Iraq were scheduled to take place in the Iraqi capital in early March 2008, but were called off due to the absence of the U.S. delegation. The Iraqi envoy revealed an upcoming visit by the head of the Iranian Shura Council, Ali Larijani, and another by the deputy foreign minister for consulate affairs to Baghdad . “Iraqi President Jalal Talabani will visit Iran in the near future,” the official noted, providing no information about the scheduled date for the visit. SS (P) 1