Iran-US-Iraq talks to resume Thursday, officials say

By JERUSALEM POST STAFF
Iran-US talks on Iraq's security will pick up again on Thursday, just days after Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad demanded on a visit to Baghdad that the US withdraw troops from Iraq, Iranian and Iraqi officials said. Iran's state news agency IRNA reported that the Iranian delegation for the talks arrived in Baghdad on Wednesday, and it quoted the delegation chief Reza Amiri Moghaddam, as saying the talks with the US would take place the following day. "The Islamic Republic of Iran attaches great significance to the Iraqi security and will spare no efforts to materialize this objective," Moghaddam was quoted by IRNA as saying. Deputy Prime Minister Barham Saleh said that the fourth round of US-Iran discussions, which are brokered by Iraq, would begin "this week." He was not more specific, but an Iraqi government official said the session would take place Thursday.