Iran cancels Iraq peace talks with US, day before meeting
Thursday, 14 Feb 2008 12:09
Iran has pulled out of Iraq peace talks
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Iran has postponed talks with the United States on how to stop the violence in Iraq, officials have announced.
Talks had been due to take place on Friday and the US and Iraq claim that Iran has give no reason for pulling out.
Recent talks, attempting to end violence in the region, have ended in deadlock with both sides blaming the other for the continual fighting.
Iraqi foreign minister Hoshyar Zebari told the Reuters news agency today: "Yesterday we were informed that the Iranians want to postpone this for some time, for some unknown reason.
"This is the fourth time we have agreed on a date and they don't show up."
The US added that they believed Iran were not willing to engage in Iraq peace talks at all.
"We have been saying for weeks we are ready to sit down for talks. It is increasingly clear that Iran is not," Mirembe Nantongo, a US embassy spokeswoman in Baghdad, told the AP news agency.
Officials from Iran and US met for talks in May, July and August last year in an attempt to find ways on reducing the violence in Iraq.
While the meetings were the highest level public contacts between the two nations for 27 years, they all ended without any serious progress.
Iran has blamed the continued violence in Iraq on the US for their presence in the country, while the US accuses Iran of helping the radical Shia Muslim groups.