Iran to meet U.S., Iraq neighbors

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Iran said yesterday it will attend a meeting with the United States and Iraq's neighbors in Baghdad on Saturday, and U.S. officials said they may use the occasion to hold bilateral talks with Iran that would be limited to Iraq's security.

The conference will mark the first time in more than two years that envoys from Iran and the United States have met in public.

"An Iranian delegation, in order to help and support the Iraqi nation, will attend the meeting of Iraq's neighboring countries," Iranian Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki said at a press conference in Tehran.

He did not name the head of Iran's delegation but the official IRNA news agency identified Iran's envoy as Abbas Araghchi, a deputy to Mr. Mottaki for legal and international affairs.

U.S. officials welcomed Tehran's decision and said they would raise the issue of what they called Iran's exporting of terrorism in Iraq.

"There are a number of things that the Iranians can do to demonstrate their bona fides as good neighbors, and we hope they'll do it," White House spokesman Tony Snow told reporters.

"To be helpful, Iran needs to make sure that there is no more exporting into Iraq of people who are committing acts of terror and also weapons that are being used to kill Americans and Iraqis and others within Iraq, in an effort to disrupt the government," he said.

At the State Department, spokesman Sean McCormack said that a U.S.-Iran meeting on the sidelines of Saturday's conference is possible.

U.S. participants in the meeting -- Zalmay Khalilzad, the U.S. ambassador to Iraq, and David Satterfield, adviser to Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice -- "aren't going to go run in the corner if there is an opportunity for a discussion," Mr. McCormack said.

"I cannot tell you that [a bilateral meeting] will take place," Mr. McCormack said. "I can tell you, however, that should one take place, that it will not be on any issue other than Iraq and issues related to Iraq's security."