Iran Agrees to Discuss Iraq With the U.S.

If negotiations take place, they will mark the first direct, open contact between the two governments in about two decades.

An aide to Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said the talks could lead to discussions of other issues, including the dispute over Iran's nuclear ambitions, which the U.N. Security Council took up this week.

In Washington, however, White House spokesman Scott McClellan stressed that any contacts would be limited to the topic of Iraq. He played down the significance of the Iranian announcement and said he was not sure he would even characterize it as the start of "a dialogue."

The Bush administration said last year that it was willing to engage in limited discussions with Iran about how to maintain peace in Iraq, with the U.S. ambassador to Iraq, Zalmay Khalilzad, authorized to speak to the Iranians. But until Thursday, Tehran had rebuffed the overtures.

The Iranian move came on the same day the Bush administration released its national security statement, revised for the first time in three years, which declares that Iran may be the largest security challenge to the United States. It also accuses the Iranian regime of sponsoring terrorism, threatening Israel, disrupting democracy in Iraq and thwarting Iranians' desire for freedom.

The timing of Iran's acceptance, just when it is facing possible action at the United Nations, suggests that the Iranians may be seeking to link any help to the United States in calming Iraq with the nuclear issue.

But the Bush administration said the two should not be linked.

"This is a very narrow mandate dealing specifically with issues relating to Iraq," McClellan said of the proposed talks. The question of Iran's nuclear program is a "separate issue" to be dealt with at the U.N., he added.

National security advisor Stephen J. Hadley said holding direct nuclear talks with Tehran might undercut the international consensus that has been built against Iran on the issue.

"We are, I think, beginning to get indications that the Iranians are finally beginning to listen, and there is beginning to be a debate within the leadership and, I would hope, a debate between the leadership and their people about whether the course they are on is the right course for the good of their country," Hadley said.