![](\"https:\/\/www.ncr-iran.org\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2007\/05\/ryancrocker.jpg\" "\\"ryancrocker\\"")
BAGHDAD (AFP) – Ambassadors from the United States and Iran met on Monday at the home of Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki for the first first high-level bilateral talks between the archfoes in 27 years. <\/p>\nBAGHDAD (AFP) – Ambassadors from the United States and Iran met on Monday at the home of Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki for the first first high-level bilateral talks between the archfoes in 27 years. <\/p>\n
"Baghdad is hosting a meeting between America and Iran and I hope that this meeting will be the beginning of a good chapter and an important step for the region," Maliki said before the closed-door talks began. <\/p>\n
"I hope that this meeting will result in a common understanding and will be followed by further meetings to resolve the outstanding issues." <\/p>\n
US ambassador to Iraq Ryan Crocker was meeting Iranian ambassador Hassan Kazemi in Baghdad for the first such encounter since the countries broke off diplomatic relations in 1980, following the storming of the US embassy in Tehran after the Islamic revolution. <\/p>\n
They were joined by Iraq’s national security adviser, Mowaffaq al-Rubaie, and deputy prime ministers Barham Saleh and Salem al-Zubayi, keen to see the foes concentrate on mending their differences over the Iraqi crisis. <\/p>\n
Washington and Tehran each accuse of the other of fomenting violence in Iraq, which is in the grip of a series of overlapping conflicts, and both have said that Monday’s discussion will be limited to this topic. <\/p>\n
"We are extremely keen that the Iraqi issue will be the subject matter of this meeting, we feel that both parties are sincere," Maliki said. <\/p>\n
While Iran opposes the US military presence in Iraq, and accuses American agents of supporting cross-border militant groups, US commanders accuse Tehran of smuggling weapons to Iraqi insurgents and militias. <\/p>\n
"We want Iraq free of international forces and it won’t turn into a base for terror organisations that damage neighbouring countries," Maliki said. <\/p>\n
"In return we look for a similar stance from the other states, especially our neighbours. The presence of multinational forces in Iraq is linked to the completing the creation of Iraqi security forces and security needs. <\/p>\n
Following Maliki’s address, journalists were asked to leave and the talks went into closed session. The US ambassador was expected to give a news conference afterwards. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
BAGHDAD (AFP) – Ambassadors from the United States and Iran met on Monday at the home of Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki for the first first high-level bilateral talks between […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":30855,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[19],"tags":[175],"class_list":{"0":"post-3547","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-terrorism-a-fundamentalism","8":"tag-updated"},"yoast_head":"\n