Bush warns Iran over alleged Iraq arms; also warns Iraqi PM

Bush warned Iraq that there would be 'a price to pay' if the United States caught Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki playing a 'non-constructive role' with Iran.

WASHINGTON (Thomson Financial) - US President George W. Bush today warned Iran that there would be 'consequences' for the country if it has been shipping weapons, including sophisticated roadside bombs, into Iraq. Bush said high-level US talks with Iranian officials in Baghdad aimed 'to send the message that there will be consequences for people transporting, delivering, EFPs -- highly sophisticated IEDS (improvised explosive devices) -- to kill Americans in Iraq.'

U.S. Says Diplomacy With Iran is Failing to Halt Iraq Attacks : Ed Johnson

Diplomatic talks with Iran are failing to stem the insurgency in neighboring Iraq, the U.S. State Department said, as the military revealed Iranian-linked bomb attacks on troops are increasing. Two rounds of talks between Ambassador Ryan Crocker and his Iranian counterpart in Baghdad, and lower level security discussions, haven't ``yielded positive results,'' spokesman Sean McCormack told reporters in Washington yesterday. Roadside attacks against U.S. soldiers using armor-piercing bombs have increased, McCormack said, citing Lieutenant General Raymond Odierno, the No. 2 U.S. commander in Iraq. The U.S. has repeatedly accused Iran of training and financing insurgents in Iraq and stoking violence between the country's Shiite and Sunni Muslim communities. Iran denies the charges and yesterday held the latest round of security talks with Iraq, when Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki visited Tehran. McCormack's comments came as the U.S. military raided a terrorist cell yesterday in Baghdad suspected of transporting weapons from Iran. U.S. forces killed 30 suspected militiamen and detained 12 others in the raid in eastern Baghdad's mainly Shiite Muslim area of Sadr City. Roadside bombs supplied by Iran caused 23 of 69 combat deaths suffered by U.S.-led forces in Iraq last month, the New York Times reported yesterday, citing Odierno. The devices, known as ``explosively formed penetrators,'' fire copper slugs that can pierce armored vehicles and were used in a record 99 attacks in July, the newspaper said. Iran-Iraq Ties Iran shares a 1,458-kilometer (906-mile) border with Iraq to the west and both have Shiite Muslim majorities. The two states fought an eight-year war in the 1980s and have increased political and economic ties since the 2003 U.S.-led invasion toppled Saddam Hussein's Sunni Muslim-led regime. Maliki met yesterday with Iran's President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and Vice President Parviz Davudi to discuss security in Iraq, the state-run Islamic Republic News Agency reported. ``Iran and Iraq have a heavy responsibility for establishing peace and security in the region,'' IRNA cited Ahmadinejad as saying. Maliki said he wants to expand ties with Iran and appealed to the country's industries to invest in infrastructure projects in Iraq, IRNA reported. Syria, accused by the U.S. of allowing insurgents to cross the border into Iraq, also hosted security talks yesterday. Representatives from the U.S. military in Iraq and U.S. Embassy in Damascus were ``observers'' at the meeting that was attended by Iraq's neighbors, said McCormack.

Grand Ayatollah Who Would Talk to Satan to save the rest of the mullahs from the Iranian's wrath: David Blair in Qom

Ringed by the Dasht-e-Kavir desert, the holy city of Qom is the Shia equivalent of the Vatican, where the ayatollahs have overseen Muslim scholarship for centuries. Reality often belies the forbidding, extreme image of Iran's bearded clerics. When a Western liberal meets Grand Ayatollah Yusef Saanei, once the deputy head of the judiciary and a former member of the powerful Council of Guardians, they find little to disagree over. One of only 15 grand ayatollahs in Iran - the Supreme Leader himself is merely an ayatollah - Mr Saanei, 70, provides spiritual inspiration for the country's reformers. He is also deeply critical of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, who he accuses of "breaking the backs of many of our people" with economic hardship. Mr Saanei believes that Islamic Sharia law should be reinterpreted to provide for absolute equality between the sexes. "In every right in human society, men and women are equal," he told The Daily Telegraph. "I believe that a woman can lead prayers in the mosque. A woman can become the Supreme Leader, let alone the president. Islam knows no discrimination between its followers, whether on grounds of nationality or race or gender." Iran's ayatollahs often fulminate against young couples who don Western clothes and hold hands in public. But this common sight on the streets of Teheran leaves Mr Saanei unmoved. "We should not intervene in these private matters," he said. "Let us assume that the couple are married. They sleep in the same bed, so why can't they hold hands?" The golden dome and slender minarets of the Hazrat-e Masumeh, the burial place of Fatimah, sister of the eighth imam of the Shia faith, are a few streets away from Mr Saanei's office in Qom. This shrine makes Qom a centre of pilgrimage from across the Muslim world. The atmosphere of holiness does not prevent Mr Saanei from favouring dialogue with the "Great Satan". Asked whether Iran should restore diplomatic ties with America, he replied: "Iran should have relations with every country in the world."