Iran says Iraqi terrorists crossing border, blames US

Iran's Foreign Ministry spokesman Mohammad Ali Hosseini said on Sunday that the statement attributed to Iraqi Foreign Minister Hoshyar Zebari protesting Iranian attack on northern Iraq should be studied.

He told reporters that certain US-backed terrorist groups are involved in cross-border sabotage operations and arms trafficking during which several Iranian soldiers have been killed. Hosseini said that Iranian border guards will seriously deal with any cross-border terrorist operations.

Responding to a question about statement of US Ambassador to Baghdad Ryan Crocker that Iran-US talks on Iraq have not produced any result, Hosseini said that Iran agreed to hold talks with the US at the request of both the Iraqi and US governments to help restore security to Iraq and that Iran held talks with the US in line with Iranian national interest and security.

He said that the Iraqi government has renewed request from Iran to resume talks with the US on Iraq so that Iran sees continued talks as important.

Hosseini criticized the US officials in Baghdad for creating obstacles in the way of a meeting between the kidnapped Iranian diplomats and their families and said that despite efforts of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) they have not set a date for the meeting.

He strongly criticized the US officials for what he said are violations of the international conventions damaging morale of the diplomats taken hostage in Iraq.

Iran's Deputy Foreign Minister Mehdi Mostafavi said on Monday that Iran has not yet received any official request from the US on holding next round of talks on Iraq's security.