Iran says new talks with US meaningless

Iran yesterday dismissed any prospect of new talks with the US on Iraq, accusing US-led forces yesterday of a "massacre" of the Iraqi people.

The two foes last year held three rounds of ground-breaking discussions in Baghdad, easing a diplomatic freeze of almost three decades, but Iraqi officials have expressed frustration that a fourth round has failed to get off the ground.

Iraq says it does not want its soil to become a battleground for a proxy war between the US and Iran, which are also at loggerheads over Iran's disputed nuclear programme.

"Right now, what we observe in Iraq is a massacre of the Iraqi nation by the occupying forces," Foreign Ministry spokesman Mohammad Ali Hosseini told a news conference.

"Concerning this situation, talks with America will have no results and will be meaningless."

Mr Hosseini did not elaborate, but US forces have been fighting daily battles with militiamen loyal to anti-American Shi'ite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr in Baghdad for several weeks.

Washington accuses Iran of funding, arming and training "rogue" elements of Sadr's Mehdi Army to attack US and Iraqi forces, despite its public commitment to stabilising Iraq.

Tehran blames the violence on the US presence in Iraq.

In Washington, State Department spokesman Tom Casey criticised Iran for its latest statements and reiterated US accusations of Iranian meddling in its neighbour's affairs.

"It is meaningless to have talks on anything with Iran as long as they don't change their behaviour. That said, we have continued to be willing and ready, and are willing and ready, to have additional discussions with the Iranians through this tripartite channel," Mr Casey told reporters.

Iraqi Foreign Minister Hoshiyar Zebari said there was no point in continuing the talks at this point.

"We see the value of the talks to be continued, but when the conditions are right and conducive," he told the US television news network CNN.

Despite the mutual accusations, US and Iranian officials had launched talks in May last year aimed at easing bloodshed in Iraq. The fourth meeting has been postponed repeatedly.

The Iranian Foreign Ministry also voiced support for Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki in cracking down on "illegal" Shi'ite militias, after an Iraqi delegation urged Tehran to stop backing such groups.

The US military said last week "very, very significant" amounts of Iranian arms had been found in Basra and Baghdad during an offensive against gunmen loyal to Shi'ite cleric Sadr.

Mr Maliki has ordered the formation of a committee to compile evidence of Iranian "interference" in Iraq that would then be presented to Tehran, Iraqi government spokesman Ali al-Dabbagh Dabbagh said on Sunday.