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Iran accepts US Afghan invitation Iran accepts US Afghan invitation
(about 3 hours later)
Iran has confirmed it will attend a US-backed international conference on the future of Afghanistan next week.Iran has confirmed it will attend a US-backed international conference on the future of Afghanistan next week.
Foreign Ministry spokesman Hassan Ghashghavi said Tehran had not yet decided who it will send to the summit in The Hague next Tuesday. Foreign Ministry spokesman Hassan Ghashghavi said Tehran had not yet decided who it would send to the one-day summit in The Hague.
US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said earlier this month that Iran should attend the high-level meeting.US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said earlier this month that Iran should attend the high-level meeting.
While the US and Iran are at odds over Tehran's nuclear plans, the two share an interest in a stable Afghanistan.While the US and Iran are at odds over Tehran's nuclear plans, the two share an interest in a stable Afghanistan.
"We will participate in the Afghanistan meeting. At what level, I don't know yet, but we will participate," Mr Ghashghavi said.
Strategy review
UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon as well as delegates from more than 80 countries are due to attend next Tuesday's meeting.
During her visit to Europe earlier this month, Mrs Clinton proposed the summit and said Iran should be a part of it.
"There are a lot of reasons why Iran would be interested. So they will be invited," she said at the time.
"Obviously it is up to them to decide whether to come."
Confirmation of Iran's attendance is likely to be welcomed by Washington, which has not had diplomatic ties with Tehran for three decades.
Tensions have been high over Iran's nuclear work, which Washington says is aimed at building an atomic bomb and Tehran insists is a civilian energy programme.
President Barack Obama has said the US is ready to talk to Iran if it "unclenched its fist".
Details of a review of US strategy on Afghanistan, which is battling a growing Taleban insurgency, are expected to be released ahead of the conference.
Iran, which opposed the Taleban regime toppled by the US-led invasion in 2001, has experienced a rise in drug use as easily available heroin from Afghanistan flows across the border.