By DPA
Washington : Bush administration officials were set Monday to hold their first formal talks with Iran since relations with the Islamic republic were snapped in the wake of the Iran hostage crisis in 1979.
US Ambassador to Iraq Ryan Crocker was scheduled to meet in Baghdad with Iranian officials to discuss Iraqi security issues.
The US has accused Tehran of fomenting violence in Iraq by providing material support to militant groups responsible for attacks on American soldiers.
Crocker intends to bring up Iranian support for the production of bomb materials in Iraq and backing of militias aggravating Shiite and Sunni tensions, according to US State Department officials.
"We would encourage them to take positive steps to follow their rhetoric with action, in order to stop the flow of material funding, as well as technology and personnel, into Iraq that might be playing a negative role in Iraq's stability," State Department spokesman Sean McCormack said on Thursday.
The United States and Iran have been at loggerheads since the fall of the US-backed Shah and the US embassy hostage crisis, but had informal contacts during the Iran-Iraq war in the 1980s, some of which became public during the Iran-Contra scandal.