Sami al-Askari, an adviser to Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki, says officials from the United States, Syria, and Iran will participate in talks that will also include representatives of the five permanent members of the UN Security Council.
Al-Askari said the countries are currently negotiating the conference date. It is expected to take place in March. A senior Iranian official said Tehran will take part in the conference as long as it is in the interest of its neighbor.
The secretary of Iran's Supreme National Security Council, Ali Larijani, said Iran will do what it can to help resolve Iraq's problems.
U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice announced on February 27 that the United States and Iraq were launching an initiative to invite Iran and Syria to conferences on stabilizing Iraq.
The United States had been under pressure to include Iran and Syria in security talks.
Copyright (c) 2006. RFE/RL, Inc. Reprinted with the permission of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, 1201 Connecticut Ave., N.W. Washington DC 20036. www.rferl.org
Posted February 28th, 2007 by Dinka
