US and Iran in talks

The US and Iran have held several meetings in Switzerland in an effort to ease friction between the two countries, a senior American official said today.

The meetings focused on a wide range of issues, including post-war Iraq, in which the Bush administration is attempting to deter Iran from trying to influence the formation of a new government in Baghdad.

The official said the meetings in Geneva were technically under the auspices of the United Nations.

Newspaper USA Today said Iran was weighing the possibility of reopening diplomatic relations with Washington for the first time in nearly a quarter century.

The official Iranian news agency quoted Foreign Ministry Spokesman Hamid Reza Asefi as saying the discussions were about the work in Afghanistan and were conducted through the auspices of the Swiss Embassy in Tehran.

“During these negotiations, the issue of bilateral relations was not on the agenda and no negotiations were held in that regard,” he said.