U.S. And Iran Set Date For Iraq Talks

The United States and Iran have set a date for ambassador-level talks in Baghdad on the deteriorating security situation in Iraq, U.S. and Iraqi officials said Sunday.

The two sides will sit down together on Tuesday, according to Iraqi Foreign Minister Hoshyar Zebari and U.S. Embassy spokesman Philip Reeker, amid U.S. allegations that Tehran is supporting violence Shiite militias in the country, but Zebari's comment was the first confirmation of a date.

"I can confirm that the United States and Iran have agreed to meet on July 24th in Baghdad," Zebari told The Associated Press in a telephone interview. He said the discussions would be at the ambassadorial leve and would stay focused on the situation in Iraq as opposed to U.S.-Iran tensions. Reeker also confirmed the date but said he had no other information to what has previously been announced.

Since the last meeting — in Baghdad, in late May — the need to show progress is even more urgent, reports CBS News' Dan Raviv. That's one reason for Tuesday's meeting.

It won't be easy. The United States claims Iran's special forces gave the "green light" to smugglers to bring explosives and sophisticated roadside bombs into Iraq.

Iran has complaints against the United States: charging four Iranian-Americans were sent to Teheran, part of a wider plan to overthrow the Islamic Republic, adds Raviv.

Iraq's fragile government has been pressing for another meeting between the two nations with the greatest influence over its future, and Iran has repeatedly signaled its willingness to sit down.

The May 28 meeting marked a break in a 27-year diplomatic freeze and was expected to have been followed within a month by a second encounter. But following that meeting, U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and other U.S. officials said Iran had not scaled back what the United States alleges is a concerted effort to arm militants and harm U.S. troops.

At the same time, Iran has called for the release of five Iranians detained in Iraq, whom the United States has said are the operations chief and other members of Iran s elite Quds Force, which is accused of arming and training Iraqi militants. Iran says the five are diplomats in Iraq with permission of the government.

As recently as Sunday, U.S. troops detained two suspected weapons smugglers who may linked to Iran's elite Quds force, the military said. The suspects and a number of weapons were seized during a raid on a rural farm compound in eastern Iraq, near the Iranian border, according to the statement.

"The suspects may be associated with a network of terrorists that have been smuggling explosively formed projectiles (EFPs), other weapons, personnel and money from Iran into Iraq," the military said, referring to powerful, armor-piercing roadside bombs that have killed hundreds of American forces.

State Department spokesman Sean McCormack said the U.S. wanted to use the meeting to warn Iran against continuing its support for militants, and he offered no explanation for the apparent change of heart about meeting with Tehran.

Iraq had hoped to arrange a higher-level meeting between Rice and Iranian Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki, but the two exchanged only stiff pleasantries during a recent international conference on Iraq's security in Egypt.

The United States is pursuing a two-track strategy with Iran that reflects the high stakes in any engagement with a nation President Bush accuses of bankrolling terrorism and building a nuclear bomb.

The fitful talks in Baghdad are one element. Then there are the U.S. Navy's exercises in the Persian Gulf this spring and a U.S. push to impose new U.N. sanctions on Iran over its disputed nuclear program.

The United States broke off diplomatic ties with Iran following the 1979 storming of the U.S. Embassy in Tehran and the holding of American hostages for 444 days.

Any direct talks between the two nations are rare, and even fleeting encounters at larger gatherings or diplomatic dinners are scrutinized for clues to the future of a troubled relationship.

Iran denies the U.S. allegations about its activities in neighboring Iraq, which like Iran has a majority Shiite Muslim population.