The US and Iranian ambassadors to Iraq meet for talks in Baghdad:

The United States and Iran held the first high-profile, face-to-face talks in nearly three decades today, adhering to an agenda that focused strictly on the war in Iraq and on how the bitter adversaries could work to 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, in the fortified Green Zone in Baghdad — produced no agreements nor a promise of a follow-up meeting between the two nations, officials said.

But Mr. Crocker told a news conference that the talks “proceeded positively.” [...]

Mr. Crocker told reporters that he “laid out before the Iranians a number of our direct, specific concerns about their behavior in Iraq.”

Washington has repeatedly accused Tehran of meddling in Iraq, including training Shiite militiamen in Iran and shipping lethal weaponry into Iraq for use in militia attacks against American troops.

Mr. Crocker said he told his Iranian counterpart that these activities “need to cease.”

There was no immediate comment from the Iranian delegation after the talks, but Mr. Crocker said the Iranians were focused on “mechanisms, if you will, and principles rather than the detailed security substance that we need to see improvement on.”

He added: “The Iranian side did not respond in detail to the points I laid out, nor did they have specific issues to put on the table beyond those that I mentioned and which we dealt with in the discussion.” [...]

Mr. Crocker said the Iraqi government planned to invite the United States and Iran to another meeting. ...

The meeting reflected a significant shift in President Bush’s approach toward the Iranian government.

The United States broke off diplomatic relations with Iran after the 1979 Islamist revolution and the storming of the American Embassy in Tehran. The Bush administration insisted that Tehran must abandon its plans to enrich uranium before direct, high-level negotiations could take place.

But in recent months, the administration began to soften its opposition to diplomatic contact, particularly over Iraq.

Critics of the administration have urged President Bush to engage its main regional rivals in the Middle East — Iran and Syria — in direct talks on shared concerns, as had the Shiite-led Iraqi government, which maintains close ties with Tehran.

Today’s meeting followed two recent, superficial encounters by high-level American and Iranian officials, one at a regional conference in March, attended by the State Department’s Iraq envoy David Satterfield, and the other at a ministerial-level conference this month, attended by Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice. ...

More from the Post:

... The Iranians, Crocker disclosed, have suggested a tri-lateral security mechanism that would include U.S., Iraqi and Iranian efforts. Crocker gave few details about that proposal but said he was referring it to Washington for consideration.

In a separate meeting with reporters, Qomi said he told Crocker that Tehran would train and equip the Iraqi army and police to create "a new military and security structure," the Associated Press reported. He did not provide details of that plan or how the Americans responded to the offer.

Crocker said the meeting focused solely on the situation in Iraq. No other matters were on the agenda, including the contentious issue of Iran's nuclear program or Iran's recent detention of a handful of U.S. citizens.

Crocker also added that the Iranian ambassador proposed a second meeting. The United States will consider that, he said, but the "purpose of this meeting was not to arrange other meetings."

Qomi told an AP reporter after his news conference, that he expected such a meeting within the month. ...

Posted by Laura at May 28, 2007 02:10 PM