Iran calls off security talks with US on Iraq
Says crackdown on Shi'ite militias must be halted
BAGHDAD - Iran called off further Iraq security talks with Washington until US forces stop their crackdown on Shi'ite militias, but the military brought more air power into the fight yesterday and escalated its accusations of Iranian backing for extremists.
The latest flare-up has put Iraq's government in a bind as it seeks to stamp out armed Shi'ite gangs but worries about angering Shi'ite heavyweight Iran, which has close ties to the core of Iraq's political leadership.
Washington has long accused Iran of arming and training some Shi'ite militia factions. The accusations were sharpened yesterday as the military said detainees described being trained at bases outside Tehran by militants from Hezbollah, an Iranian-aided faction based in Lebanon.
Iraq's Shi'ite-led government said battles against militias would continue even if Iran pulled out of the talks. Three rounds have been held at the ambassador level since May and marked rare direct diplomatic contact between the two nations, which have had no formal relations since shortly after Iran's 1979 Islamic Revolution.
There are also worries that Sunni extremists are regrouping. Attacks blamed on Al Qaeda in Iraq have claimed dozens of lives in recent days, including an attack yesterday that killed at least 10 Iraqi soldiers and wounded 13 at a checkpoint in Diyala province, the US military said.
In Tehran, Iran's Foreign Ministry spokesman Mohammad Ali Hosseini said talks could not be held under current conditions.
"What we are witnessing is open and extensive bombing of the Iraqi nation, while the main goal of talks with the American side would have been security and peace in Iraq," Hosseini said. "It is a matter of doubt that the US is pursuing a solution for the crisis, which was caused by them."
In Baghdad's Sadr City, a Shi'ite slum where 2.5 million people live, US and Iraqi forces have been under sustained attacks by militias including members of the powerful Mahdi Army led by anti-American cleric Moqtada al-Sadr.
Hundreds of people have been killed in Baghdad and the southern city of Basra since late March when Iraq's prime minister, Nouri al-Maliki, launched an offensive against Shi'ite militias and so-called "special groups" with suspected ties to Iran.
Yesterday, the US Air Force unleashed one of its most potent weapons, the AC-130 gunship, against Shi'ite extremists in Baghdad. The US military said it killed at least nine militants in clashes since Sunday.
Many of the recent attacks against US forces have been blamed on an armor-piercing bomb that the Pentagon says is partially manufactured in Iran. Iraq has said it will set up a committee to investigate US allegations of Iranian involvement, but has sought to keep a balance between the two countries.
A five-member Iraqi delegation went to Tehran last week to discuss the US allegations. Their meetings included General Ghassem Soleimani, commander of the Quds Force wing of the Revolutionary Guard. Details of the talks have not been released, but Hosseini said in Iran that "Tehran has always said that it supports the Iraqi government and legal action against illegal armed groups who commit crimes there."
