Absence of U.S. delegation behind delayed meeting with Iranians – spokesman
Baghdad - Voices of Iraq
Friday , 07 /03 /2008 Time 3:33:53
Baghdad, Mar 7, (VOI) – The absence of the U.S. delegation was behind the postponement of a meeting scheduled to be held with the Iranian side, the Iraqi government spokesman said on Friday.
"Representatives from the Iraqi government have already met with the Iranian delegation that arrived in Baghdad for these talks but for unknown reasons the U.S. side did not attend the meeting," Ali al-Dabbagh told Aswat al-Iraq – Voices of Iraq – (VOI), adding the Iranian delegation "was ready for the talks."
The fourth round of U.S.-Iranian talks on Iraq was supposed to be convened on Thursday but was cancelled after the Iranian delegation arrived in Baghdad and the U.S. side did not show up.
"The Iraqi government hopes the current UN Security Council meetings and the sanctions planned to be imposed on Iran would not reflect on the U.S. will to attend the talks on the Iraqi affairs," Dabbagh said.
The UNSC on Monday planned to impose sanctions on Iran due to its rejection to stop its uranium-enriching activities within its nuclear program. The third package of sanctions involved an embargo on trade exchange with Tehran over commodities of dual military-civilian use.
"The Iraqi government is working out a new date for Iranian-U.S. meetings on Iraq," Dabbagh noted.
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