Iran has ended negotiations with the United States about how to bring calm to Iraq because they were going nowhere, Iran’s foreign minister said tonight, in a rare acknowledgement of official talks with Washington.

Iran warned Britain today that ties between both countries will suffer if London does not free a former Iranian diplomat from custody.

Iraq and Iran today said oil should be used to put pressure on the US to force Israel out of Palestinian areas, but that all Muslim oil-producing countries needed to support the move.