U.S. and Iranian Officials Meet in Baghdad, but Talks Yield No Breakthroughs

05/29/2007

By KIRK SEMPLE
NY Times
Published: May 29, 2007


BAGHDAD, May 28 — The United States and Iran held rare face-to-face talks in Baghdad on Monday, adhering to an agenda that focused strictly on the war in Iraq and on ways the two bitter adversaries could help improve conditions here.

The meeting between Ambassador Ryan C. Crocker of the United States and Ambassador Hassan Kazemi Qumi of Iran — held in the offices of Prime Minister Nuri Kamal al-Maliki — produced no agreements nor a promise of a follow-up meeting between the nations, participants said.

But Mr. Crocker said at a news conference afterward that the meeting “proceeded positively” and was “businesslike.” Both sides, he said, articulated a common desire to help stabilize Iraq.

“The Iranians, as well as ourselves, laid out the principles that guide our respective policies toward Iraq,” he said. “There was pretty good congruence right down the line: support for a secure, stable, democratic, federal Iraq, in control of its own security, at peace with its neighbors.”

Mr. Qumi, who held a separate news conference, said, “Some problems have been raised and studied, and I think this was a positive step.”

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