Talabani backs US-Iran talks on Iraq

The Iraqi president said the issue of talks was raised on a visit he made to Tehran a few months ago, a statement from his office said, summarising talks he held on Saturday with British Defence Secretary John Reid.

"We received primary approval from Iran when I visited a few months ago," the statement quoted Talabani as saying.

"We confirmed at that time the necessity of opening such a dialogue and the Iranian side accepted on two conditions. The first was the talks would be secret and the second was that all disputes between Iran and the United States would be discussed."

Iraqi Shia leader Abdul Aziz al-Hakim urged Iran last week to hold talks with the United States over Iraq.

Meanwhile, top foreign ministry officials of the five veto-wielding members of the UN Security Council and Germany are to meet in New York today to plot long-term strategy on how to tackle the Iranian nuclear crisis.

Participants at the meeting, to be held at Britain's UN mission, will be US Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs Nicholas Burns, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Kislyak and foreign ministry political directors John Sawers of Britain, Stanislas de Laboulaye of France, Zhang Yan of China and Michael Schaefer of Germany, officials said.