Iran and the United States will hold talks in Baghdad aimed at establishing security in Iraq, Iran’s Foreign Ministry said on Sunday.The timing of the talks was unclear, with the official IRNA news agency at first saying they would be next week but later reporting the date would become clear by Friday.Talks between Iran and the United States, which accuses Tehran of supplying and training Shi’ite militia in Iraq, are rare. The two countries have not had diplomatic ties for more than a quarter century.“With the aim of easing the pain of the Iraqi people, supporting the Iraqi government and strengthening security in Iraq . Iran will talk with the American side in Baghdad,” IRNA quoted Foreign Ministry spokesman Mohammad Ali Hosseini as saying.When contacted, Hosseini’s office confirmed his comments, but IRNA also quoted Hosseini as saying: “The place of talks is definitely Iraq. The exact date and level of the negotiating team will become clear by Friday."The US embassy in Baghdad said only that Washington was aware of the media reports from Iran.Iran denies backing the insurgency in Iraq and accuses US of igniting tensions between Iraq’s Shi’ite and Sunni Muslims. Analysts say US and Tehran are both concerned about worsening violence, pushing them to agree to meet.
