US charges that Iran was spurring on sectarian strife in Iraq and fuelling terrorism in the Middle East led to tension and heated debate in rare talks on Tuesday between the two arch enemies.
"There were several heated exchanges in the course of the day," US ambassador to Iraq Ryan Crocker, who led to the US side to the talks in Baghdad, told Washington-based reporters by telephone. Tehran's envoy Hassan Kazemi Qomi headed the Iranian delegation in the talks that was also attended by a delegation of Iraqi officials led by Foreign Minister Hoshyar Zebari.
Crocker said the heated arguments erupted when he accused Iran of providing direct support to extremist militias - both training and actual weapons - and that Washington "got the proof. Qomi "took exception to that," Crocker said, adding that a "brief summary" of the evidence was provided by the United States at the talks. "I said we are not here to proof something in a court of law. We are here to let them know we know what they are doing and it needs to stop," he said.
Tensions also filled the air when Crocker raised Iran's alleged support for terrorism throughout the region, including for Hezbollah and Hamas, to which "they took exception." He said the meeting could not be described as a "shouting match throughout" but the United States was "real clear" over "problems about their behaviour."
Summarising the talks as "difficult discussions," Crocker said the difficulty stemmed from "the lack of clear action on the ground to back Iran's stated policy" that it wanted to see security normalised in Iraq.
Iraqi leaders, including Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki, had put a positive spin on the second face-to-face encounter between the three parties since May, hailing what they said was the creation of a tripartite security committee. But US envoy Ryan Crocker had downplayed the importance of the panel, and insisted that Tehran should be judged by results on the battlefield.
The talks were hosted by Maliki in his offices inside Baghdad's fortified Green Zone - and area which US commanders say is bombarded daily with Iranian-made shells. He began the meeting with a brief speech.
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