US, Iran may use nuclear talks to discuss Iraq

Iran and world powers enter a critical fifth round of nuclear talks in Vienna on June 16 amid reports Tehran and Washington may use the occasion to discuss cooperation in Iraq.

With the old foes both deeply concerned by the insurgency in Iraq, the Wall Street Journal reported that top U.S. and Iranian negotiators might hold direct talks in Vienna about how to halt a lightening Sunni militant offensive. 

U.S. Deputy Secretary of State William Burns, who held secret nuclear talks with Iran in 2013, was due in Vienna, as was Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif.

Zarif was a key interlocutor between Shiite Iran and the U.S. government after September 11, 2001, when both sides were keen to oust the Sunni Taliban in Afghanistan, the Wall Street Journal said.

But any talk of Iraq would be secondary, with the main purpose being efforts towards a comprehensive nuclear deal with only five weeks before a July 20 deadline.

"Whatever dialogue may or may not be taking place would take place on the sideline or outside of the mainstream of the nuclear talks," U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry said on June 13.

'Long way to go'

The five permanent members of the U.N. Security Council plus Germany want Tehran to scale back its nuclear activities, while Iran wants all U.N. and Western sanctions to be lifted.

This long hoped-for accord would be aimed at once and for all silencing fears that Tehran might develop nuclear weapons, and averting a slide into international conflict.

Both sides caution that there is a long way to go as negotiators confront the same sticking points that have dogged diplomatic efforts for the past decade. Iranian President Hassan Rouhani said on Saturday there were still...