WASHINGTON, April 8: The Bush administration remains interested in limited talks with Iran on its activities in Iraq, but no meeting is scheduled, State Department spokesman Sean McCormack said on Friday. The talks would be held in Baghdad, where US Ambassador Zalmay Khalilzad was authorised months ago by President George Bush to meet Iranian diplomats on a limited basis.

“We don’t have a timeline for such a meeting,” Mr McCormack said. “As for whether there will be a meting, we will see.”

The US official said: “We’ve had concerns about the Iranians’ behaviour in Iraq. We are calling for good, neighbourly, transparent relations between Iraq and Iran.”

Excluded from the potential discussion is Iran’s nuclear activities, which the Bush administration and European allies say is designed to manufacture nuclear weapons.

Mr McCormack suggested Iran was showing interest in talks with the United States because ‘they find themselves under the scrutiny and the harsh spotlight of the international community concerning their nuclear activities’.

The United States and the Europeans have brought their case against Iran to the United Nations, but there is no decision on whether to try to impose economic or other penalties on Iran to try to force a resumption of negotiations with Britain, France and Germany.

In Vienna, Austria, diplomatic sources reported the head of the UN nuclear watchdog agency, Mohamed ElBaradei, would go to Tehran next week to try to wrest concessions.—AP