Iraqi Envoy Breaks Off U.N. Talks With Iranians and Heads Home

Iraqi Foreign Minister Tarik Aziz, in a move that clouds the Iran-Iraq peace talks, Tuesday abruptly left the United Nations after only one face-to-face meeting with his Iranian counterpart.

Aziz, who originally was to speak to the General Assembly on Friday, instead gave his speech Tuesday night. He departed for Baghdad immediately after speaking.

After a one-hour farewell call on Secretary General Javier Perez de Cuellar, Aziz declined to comment on the peace talks, which began Aug. 25 in Geneva. But he said he hopes Perez de Cuellar will set a date for continuing negotiations in Switzerland.

Iraqi officials had made it known that they wished to return the talks to Geneva. But Mohammed Mahallati, the Iranian ambassador to the United Nations, shook his head “no” when asked if Tehran would agree to resumption of the negotiations outside the United Nations.

“We have not agreed to anything,” Mahallati said.

Nonetheless, a participant in the most recent talks, speaking on condition of anonymity, said he remains hopeful.

“There’s a genuine desire to move forward on both sides,” he said.

Aziz and Iranian Foreign Minister Ali Akbar Velayati held one face-to-face meeting at the United Nations on Saturday night after three such encounters in Geneva. Perez de Cuellar had characterized the latest session as “neither a breakthrough nor a breakdown.”

Another official close to the negotiations reported that Iraqi technical experts had arrived in New York over the last two days. This official pointed out that much of the negotiations must proceed at lower diplomatic levels and that the presence of foreign ministers is not essential.

Waterway Issue

One of the first obstacles in working out a peace agreement came in Geneva last month when Iraq demanded that Iran reopen the Shatt al Arab, Iraq’s main outlet to the Persian Gulf, and halt the searching of Iraqi ships.

In his General Assembly talk, Aziz asserted that Iraq seeks “a clear provision on the principle of unobstructed freedom of navigation in international waters in the Arab Gulf and in the Hormuz Strait for all shipping.”

He said Iraq also asked that the United Nations clear the Shatt al Arab of mines and ensure safe navigation “without prejudice to the legal status of the river.”