Take long hard look at Iraq, Iran warns US

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http://smh.com.au/news/world/take-long-hard-look-at-iraq-iran-warns-us/2006/03/17/1142582522186.html

IRAN and the US agreed to talks on ending violence in Iraq as American forces launched what officials described as their biggest counterinsurgency air assault since the invasion of the country three years ago.

The rare diplomatic meeting, to be held in Baghdad, comes after months of rising global confrontation over Tehran's nuclear program and a 27-year chill brought on by the 1979 US embassy hostage drama in the Iranian capital.

There was little warmth in Thursday's announcements in Washington and Tehran.

Iran's chief nuclear negotiator, Ali Larijani, told the Iranian parliament that a team of negotiators would meet Washington's ambassador to Baghdad, Zalmay Khalilzad, but he lectured the Americans on how Iran expected them to conduct themselves.