Analysis: U.S. Balancing Act on Iran

Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak, right, meets with US Vice President Dick Cheney at the Presidential palace in Cairo, Egypt, Sunday, May 13, 2007. Their talks are expected to focus on helping Iraq and curbing Iran's rising influence. (AP Photo/Amr Nabil) (Amr Nabil - AP)

CAIRO -- The prospect of direct U.S.-Iranian talks on Iraq represents an important shift in relations between the two adversaries.

The development comes during Vice President Dick Cheney's visit to the region, where he is trying to convince moderate Arab states that the U.S. will stand firm against Tehran's encroachment. He also is seeking to build support for the delicate Iraqi government.

Cheney is only one part of a U.S. tag team. The second member, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, seems to be playing on the other side of the street.

The vice president has emphasized a hard line on Iran over the past week in stops in moderate Arab nations and talks to U.S. troops in Iraq and on an aircraft carrier in the Persian Gulf.

He has urged Arab countries to do more to help stabilize the Iraqi government and hinted that Washington would work to keep Iran from dominating the region.

Rice is leading a countervailing effort to reach out to Iran despite serious doubts whether there is anyone willing to reach back.

The two tracks crossed on Sunday.

Iran's official news agency reported that the U.S. sought face-to-face meetings in Baghdad with the Iranians to discuss security in Iraq _ and that Tehran would accept.

Cheney's spokeswoman said after the vice president's meeting in Cairo with Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak that the U.S. was willing to talk to Iran if the discussions just deal with Iraq and were held at the "ambassadorial level."

It is the first time Tehran has gone for the offer. But spokeswoman Lea Anne McBride noted that the idea of such talks had been floated before, in what the State Department is calling the "Baghdad channel."

White House spokesman Gordon Johndroe later said the U.S. ambassador to Iraq, Ryan Crocker, would meet with Iranian in Baghdad in the next few weeks.

"The president authorized this channel because we must take every step possible to stabilize Iraq and reduce the risk to our troops even as our military continue to act against hostile Iranian-backed activity in Iraq," Johndroe said while traveling with President Bush in Virginia.