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US, IRANIAN OFFICIALS MEET IN BAGHDAD TO DISCUSS SECURITY, STRATEGIC CONCERNS
HISTORIC MEETING SEES NO MAJOR BREAKTHROUGH, BUT COULD PAVE WAY FOR LONGTERM NEGOTIATION 29 May 2007 Diplomats from the US and Iran have met in direct talks for the first time in more than a quarter century. There was little anticipated to be gained from the meeting, except perhaps a premise for future security negotiations and a possible increase in mutual confidence in the goal of securing Iraq. The meeting was described by participants as "businesslike", Iran proposed a three-way forum to negotiate security solutions. The Iraqi government has expressed support for the trilateral security committee, specifying that no such negotiations or decisions should be considered legitimate without the participation and approval of the elected Iraqi government. Officials from both Teheran and Washington agreed the goal should be a free, democratic and peaceful Iraq which is not a threat to any of its neighbors. The Los Angeles Times described the meeting, held in Iraqi PM Nouri al-Maliki's Baghdad office, as "a reconfiguration of the Bush administration's stance toward Iran". The warming of relations was recommended by the Iraq Study Group report last year, as a necessary ingredient to establishing peace and security in Iraq, but was initially rejected by the White House as a dangerous shift in policy. But 2007 has seen a shift in administration views of the policy's potential, as officials "attended a neighbors' conference arranged by the Iraqi government in March at which Iran was also present, and Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice briefly exchanged pleasantries with her Iranian counterpart at a regional security meeting in Sharm el Sheik, Egypt earlier in May". Iran stated that the US presence in Iraq was legally an occupation and required concrete steps to provide peace and security. US representatives said they will be watching for a "change in Iranian behavior". The meeting comes only days after reports suggested US forces have been inside Iran for more than a year. The next step would logically be to expand negotiations and set up a further meeting, as suggested by PM al-Maliki. [s]
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