Iran sets conditions for talks with US on Iraq

Iran will only hold direct talks with the United States on Iraq if Washington announces plans to pull its troops out, Iranian Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki said yesterday.

Mottaki was responding to this week's US Iraq Study Group report, which recommended Washington should directly engage with Iran and Syria to try to stabilise Iraq.

US President George W. Bush has said he will not talk to Iran unless it suspends its nuclear programme. On the question of direct talks, "the first and most essential step... is the United States announce they have decided to withdraw from Iraq," Mottaki told reporters at a security conference in Bahrain.

Washington has said it will keep its troops in Iraq as long as the Iraqi government wants. Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki said last month his country's forces would be able to assume security command by June 2007 - which would allow the United States to start withdrawing troops.

US and Iraqi officials at the conference were sceptical about any Iranian help for US troop withdrawal.

Washington blames Iran and Syria for stirring up conflict in Iraq nearly four years after the US-led invasion toppled Saddam Hussein.

US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice has suggested Tehran would demand some payback in return for any help on Iraq, probably over its nuclear programme, which the West fears could include nuclear weapons. Iran says it has no intention of acquiring nuclear weapons.

Asked if Iran would ask for concessions if it helped the US withdraw, Mottaki said: "When they announce they have decided to withdraw from Iraq, then we will explain how the region can help the Americans to withdraw."

Iraqi Foreign Minister Hoshiyar Zebari said Syria or Iran would demand payback for any help they offer the United States.