Iran names envoy for US talks on Iraq
Afp, Tehran
Iran's envoy in Baghdad will lead his country's delegation in Monday's talks on Iraq with the US, the official IRNA news agency quoted foreign ministry spokesman Mohammad Ali Hosseini as saying yesterday. "Hassan Kazemi, the ambassador of Iran in Baghdad, has been designated to head the Iranian delegation in the discussions with the representative of the United States about Iraq," it quoted Hosseini as saying. "These talks will begin next Monday" with the aim of finding ways to improve the security situation in Iraq, he added. Iranian television had earlier reported that Tehran's outgoing UN ambassador, Javad Zarif, would be Iran's representative in the highest-level official bilateral talks between the two sides since the 1979 Islamic revolution. The United States and Iran broke off diplomatic relations in 1980 after radical students stormed the US embassy in Tehran and held its diplomats hostage for 444 days.
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