DAR AL HARB/ISLAM - U.S.A./IRAN: "IT COULD BE USEFUL TO BE ABLE TO HAVE THAT DIRECT EXCHANGE & TO CONVEY A MESSAGE, AGAIN, DIRECTLY TO THEM."

US Takes a Step Toward Talks With Iran
By ANNE GEARAN, AP Diplomatic Writer

WASHINGTON — The Bush administration edged toward new talks with Iran on Tuesday, even though it says the last such session apparently did little to deter Iran from arming and helping insurgents in neighboring Iraq.

"It could be helpful," State Department spokesman Sean McCormack said. "It could be useful to be able to have that direct exchange and to convey a message, again, directly to them."

Iraq's ambassador in Washington, Samir Sumaidaie, said Washington and Tehran have agreed to meet and have set a date. McCormack said the meeting has not been scheduled.

Another Iraqi official, speaking on condition of anonymity because the plans are not yet public, said the session will be held Saturday in Baghdad.

Discussion between the U.S. and Iranian ambassadors is only supposed to cover Iraq, where they have competing and overlapping interests.

"It's not a negotiating session," McCormack said.

Iraq's fragile government has been pressing for another meeting between the two nations with the greatest influence over its future, and Iran has repeatedly signaled its willingness to sit down.

But following the last meeting, held in Baghdad in May, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and other U.S. officials said Iran had not scaled back what the United States alleges is a concerted effort to arm militants and harm U.S. troops. U.S. officials signaled that they saw little use in holding more talks until Iran made a move.

McCormack offered no explanation for the apparent change of heart.

"There's nothing that's changed," he said. "Frankly, the Iranian behavior in Iraq has not changed."

This meeting, like the last two, would involve the U.S. ambassador in Iraq and an Iranian counterpart. Iraq had hoped to arrange a higher-level meeting between Rice and Iranian Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki in May, but the two exchanged only stiff pleasantries during an international conference on Iraq's security.

"We look positively at holding a second round of talks. There exists a possibility to hold such talks in the near future," Mottaki told a news conference in Tehran.

Mottaki suggested that Iran is waiting for a formal U.S. invitation. U.S. officials, meanwhile, would not say whether Washington or Tehran had made the first move.

"They need to stop supporting sectarian militias that are exacerbating sectarian tensions, they need to stop supporting EFP networks that pose a direct threat to our troops," he said, referring to explosively formed penetrators, devices designed to penetrate armored vehicles. The U.S. claims the devices are being sent to insurgents by Iran.

The United States is pursuing a two-track strategy with Iran that reflects the high stakes in any engagement with a nation President Bush accuses of bankrolling terrorism and building a nuclear bomb.

The fitful talks in Baghdad are one element. Then there are the U.S. Navy's exercises in the Persian Gulf this spring and a U.S. push to impose new U.N. sanctions on Iran over its disputed nuclear program.

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