Iran Offers Help in Baghdad Security Talks

Iran’s top security official said Iran is willing to attend talks on improving security in Iraq but the request must come from Baghdad.

At a news conference Wednesday in Tehran, Ali Larijani, the secretary of Iran’s Supreme National Security Council, said there are two proposals circulating to help the Iraqi government, the FARS news agency reported.

The first option involves a meeting of regional neighboring countries only while the second would include U.N. Security Council members, which Larijani said wasn’t his first choice.

We believe that regional states are efficient enough to assist Iraq with the establishment of security and that attendance of the (U.N.) members is not necessary, he said, adding the ultimate decision was that of Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki and his government.

He said Iranian Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki has been formally invited to the March conference by Iraqi Foreign Minister Hoshyar Zebari, the state-run IRNA news agency said.