US and Iran to hold key meeting

For the first time since 1979 the US and Iran are to have face to face meetings. The only subject on the table is the be Iraqi security.

The US is expected to present claims that Iran is providing technology and other support to Iraqi militia groups.

For its part, Tehran says it has uncovered several spy networks run by the US and its allies inside Iran.

On Sunday, the Iranian authorities summoned the Swiss ambassador to demand an explanation of the networks, which Iranian TV said were seeking to commit "infiltration and sabotage in western, central and south-western areas of the country".

Switzerland represents US interests in Iran.

The White House said it did not confirm or deny allegations about intelligence matters.

The US has backed down from the set of conditions it initially insisted upon before any meeting could take place. Whatever has brought about this sudden lurch into adult behaviour from the Bush administration, it is to be welcomed.

Meetings between the two sides should be interesting. The US have long claimed that Iran are interfering in Iraq, a claim that many of us believe is simply an excuse from the US to prepare the public for some kind of action against the Iranians.

The Iranians are claiming that they have evidence that the US is operating within Iranian territory, which is something that Seymour Hersh has been claiming for a long time.

It is unlikely that any great breakthrough will come from these talks, but the importance of the talks is that they are taking place at all.

Iran's position on the talks has been dictated by the country's ultimate authority - Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.

He said the aim of the meeting was to remind the American occupiers of Iraq that they had a legal responsibility to bring security to the country.

Ayatollah Khamenei says the US government is colonial, bullying, arrogant and expansionist.

However, the Iranians also have their problems as they are now under sanctions from the rest of the world community as well as the US because of their uranium enrichment programme, although I understand the discussions are to be strictly limited to the subject of Iraq.

And the Iranians can remind the Americans until they are blue in the face that it is their legal responsibility to restore order to Iraq, but the simple facts on the ground appear to be that the US have no idea how to even begin to do that. Which is why I presume they have agreed to this meeting.

I can only presume that Dick Cheney must be tied up in a cupboard somewhere otherwise it's hard to see the US being allowed to make such a sensible move. Normally Dick forbids anything that seems like common sense to the rest of the planet so it's very hard to work out how this got under his radar.

Or perhaps things are so desperate in Iraq that even Dick has realised that negotiations with the Iranians is the only sensible way forward.

Either way, it's a welcome move. And it would have been more welcome had they done it long ago.

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