Iran-US-Iraq talks to resume Thursday, says official

Baghdad: Iran-US talks on Iraq's security will pick up again Thursday, just days after Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad demanded on a visit to Baghdad that the US withdraw troops from Iraq.

Deputy Prime Minister Barham Saleh said the fourth round of US-Iran discussions, which are brokered by Iraq, would begin ''this week.'' He was not more specific, but another government official said the session would take place Thursday. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to release the information.

A meeting last May between the American and Iranian ambassadors to Iraq broke the 27-year diplomatic freeze between the two countries, which have not had formal relations since the 1979 Iranian Revolution and the taking of hostages at the US embassy.