Iran wants to renew top-level talks with the US on security in Iraq, insisting that discussions take place between ambassadors and not lower-level functionaries, Iraqi officials say.

A parked car exploded near a hospital in Baghdad’s main Shiite district today - the deadliest in a series of bombings killed at least nine people and wounded dozens in Iraq, police said.

Two of Saddam Hussein’s co-defendants were taken from their cells and told they were going to be hanged on the same day the former Iraqi dictator was executed, their lawyer said.

Iraq’s prime minister has ordered an investigation into Saddam Hussein’s execution to try to uncover who taunted the former dictator in the last minutes of his life, and who leaked footage taken by camera phone of the hanging.

Former Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein was executed today.