U.S. embassy says not expecting new Iran talks Monday

BAGHDAD (Reuters) - A U.S. official said a second round of rare talks between Iran and the United States was not expected in Baghdad on Monday after an Iranian newspaper reported the dialogue on Iraqi security was about to resume.

Tehran and Washington held a first round of direct talks on Iraq's stability in Baghdad on May 28. Iranian and Iraqi officials had said that a second round of talks between the two would take place soon, without specifying a date.

"After a series of ups and downs, Iran and America's ambassadors will hold talks about Iraq on Monday in Baghdad," Iran's Hamshahri newspaper said on Sunday, quoting an unidentified official.

However, a U.S. embassy spokesman in Baghdad said the embassy was not expecting a second round on Monday, adding that any further information would come from Washington.

Officials in the Iraqi capital believe the talks could be held later this week.

The U.S. military said two suspected insurgents linked to the Iranian Revolutionary Guards' Qods Force were detained during a raid on a farm near the Iranian border east of Baghdad. Iran does not officially acknowledge the Qods Force.

Shi'ite Iran denies Washington's accusation that it is involved in violence in Iraq and blames the U.S.-led invasion in 2003 for the bloodshed.

"The suspects may be associated with a network of terrorists that have been smuggling explosively formed projectiles, other weapons, personnel and money from Iran into Iraq," the military said in a statement.

Explosively formed projectiles, or EFPs, are sophisticated roadside bombs which are capable of sending molten slugs of metal through armor. Roadside bombs account for the majority of U.S. military deaths in Iraq.

The U.S. military has previously displayed what it says are Iranian-made rockets, mortars and roadside bombs seized in Iraq.

Spokesman Rear Admiral Mark Fox reiterated the U.S. military's belief that "networks" of EFPs are being brought into Iraq from Iran. He likened U.S. efforts at combating the networks to "draining a swamp".

"The ultimate solution in our view is to ensure that the source of these weapons could be controlled and dried up and that there would be a good neighbor policy here," Fox told a news conference in Baghdad.

HIGH-PROFILE MEETING

The May talks were the most high-profile meeting between Iran and the United States in almost three decades. The two countries cut diplomatic ties shortly after Iran's 1979 Islamic revolution.

Asked about the newspaper report, Iran's government spokesman Gholamhossein Elham said: "I cannot point out a date ... Everyone will be informed when the talks start."

Iran's Foreign Ministry also said the date of a second round of talks "was not clear yet".

"Iran has accepted this request (of the Iraqi government) to resolve the Iraqi nation's problems," spokesman Mohammad Ali Hosseini told a weekly news conference.

The May discussions covered security in Iraq and both U.S. and Iranian officials say Iraqi issues, not other disputes, would be the focus of any further talks.

(With additional reporting by Paul Tait in Baghdad)