WASHINGTON, July 17: Iran and the United States are poised for a second round of direct talks about Iraq, with Washington accusing Tehran of fomenting sectarian violence there.

Both Iranian Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki and the US State Department said they were ready to grapple over the war-wracked nation, since they last held face-to-face talks at the end of May.

“We think that given the situation in Iraq and that given Iran's continued behaviour that is leading to further instability in Iraq, it would be appropriate to have a another face-to-face meeting,” department spokesman Sean McCormack told reporters in Washington.

The United States, he said, wanted to “directly convey to the Iranian authorities that if they wish to see a more stable, secure, peaceful Iraq — which is what they have said they would like to see — that they need to change their behaviour,” he said.“They need to stop supporting sectarian militias that are exacerbating sectarian tension ... stop supporting EFP networks that pose a threat to our troops,” McCormack said, referring to so called explosively formed penetrators that could pierce armoured vehicles.

He indicated that arrangements were being made to have the meeting but no date had been fixed yet.

Mottaki said Iraq had asked Iran to take part in the talks but that it was up to Washington to make an official request to Tehran.

“Logically, our opinion would be positive, once the Americans make an official request and express willingness,” he said, according to the Iranian state television website.

“Therefore there is a probability of holding these talks in the near future,” he added.

Any US request would have to be made through the Swiss embassy in Tehran, which looks after US interests in the absence of any diplomatic relations between Washington and Tehran.

Mottaki did not say what would happen if the United States did not make an official request.

The two sides last met on security in Iraq on May 28, their highest-level public contacts in 27 years.

That encounter between US ambassador to Iraq Ryan Crocker and Iranian ambassador Hassan Kazemi Qomi in Baghdad did not achieve any major breakthrough and was strictly limited to the security situation in Iraq.

Both sides stuck to their familiar positions, with Tehran calling for US troops to be pulled out and Washington accusing Iran of stoking the insurgency that is bedeviling Iraq.

But for many observers, the sheer fact that the two foes sat down at the same table was remarkable.

“Certainly, Iran can play a positive, responsible role in Iraq. They say they want to, thus far we have not seen that,” McCormack said on Tuesday.

The United States broke off relations with Iran in 1980 after Islamic revolutionaries seized the US embassy in Tehran and held its diplomats hostage for 444 days.

The two countries remain at loggerheads over a range of issues including Iran's nuclear program, which the United States claims is aimed at producing nuclear weapons, an accusation fiercely denied by Tehran.

US forces have frequently accused Iran of stoking the violence in Iraq by arming and training militias, allegations that are also denied by Tehran.

Relations have been chilled further by the detention in Iraq by US forces of at least five Iranian officials who Tehran insists are diplomats, but Washington says are members of Iran’s elite Revolutionary Guard.

Strains have also come from the detention by Tehran of three US-Iranians accused of espionage and harming national security by being linked to alleged US efforts to topple Iran's clerical authorities.—AFP