US, Iran in frank talks on Iraq

The US and Iran held a frank first meeting yesterday of a new committee set up by the arch foes to seek an end to Iraq's sectarian violence, which Washington accuses Tehran of fuelling.

Hours before the diplomats met, a truck bomber in a crowded residential area killed at least 33 people in their homes.

Establishing the security sub-committee has been the main achievement so far of new face-to-face contacts between Washington and Tehran - enemies who have had no diplomatic ties for almost 30 years but were driven to the negotiating table by the threat of all-out civil war in Iraq.

"It is an established channel of communication and we will see in the future as to whether or not it is a useful channel of communication," US State Department spokesman Sean McCormack told reporters in Washington.

A US embassy official said ambassador Ryan Crocker and his Iranian counterpart Hassan Kazemi-Qomi met Iraq's national security adviser Mowaffak al-Rubaie for two hours in Mr Rubaie's office to go over what the committee had discussed.

The US says Iran is fomenting unrest in Iraq by supporting Shi'ite militias and supplying weapons such as armour-piercing bombs used to kill US troops. Iran denies it is responsible for violence and blames the US for unleashing sectarian strife after its 2003 invasion.

A US military spokesman said yesterday that more than 70 per cent of attacks on US troops in Baghdad in July were carried out by Shi'ite militias.