The United States on Wednesday rejected holding higher-level talks with Iran, one day after their ambassadors to Baghdad held a landmark second meeting on Iraqi security.
Iranian Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki said that Tehran would be willing to consider talking to Washington, its arch-foe for almost three decades, at the level of deputy foreign minister.
But "I don't see that happening at this point of time," said State Department spokesman Sean McCormack.
"We have an established channel with (US Ambassador to Iraq) Ryan Crocker and we are taking a look at the suggestion to establish a subcommittee of that group which would actually be lower level, technically oriented officials," McCormack said.
"We are talking to the Iraqis, we are talking to the Iranians about that. We are talking about the modalities of such a group and we will make a decision on it," he added.
In Tehran, Mottaki backtracked on Wednesday, the state news agency IRNA reported.
"Raising the level of the discussions is not on the agenda," the foreign minister said.
"Such a request has not been made," he said.
Crocker and Tehran's envoy Hassan Kazemi Qomi held a second round of talks on Tuesday in Baghdad over security in Iraq to follow up a first meeting on May 28.
The outcome of the meeting appeared to be mixed with both sides still at loggerheads over who was to blame for the daily violence in Iraq.
The United States accused Iran at the meeting of stepping up its alleged support of militia groups and Crocker admitted afterwards the encounter had been marked by "heated exchanges."
The United States, a close ally of Tehran during the rule of the pro-US Shah, broke off diplomatic relations with Iran in 1980 during the 444-day siege of its embassy in Tehran by students after the Islamic revolution.
Ties have remained frozen ever since, with tensions now exacerbated further by the controversy over Iran's nuclear program and the jailing by Tehran of US-Iranian academics accused of harming national security.
The talks in Baghdad have stuck strictly to security in Iraq, with both sides ruling out the possibility of expanding the discussions to more contentious issues.
