Iran and the United States started talks on Monday in Baghdad for the first time in more than quarter century, official Iraqi TV reported.

The talks, attended by U.S. ambassador Ryan Crocker and Iranian ambassador Hassan Kazemi Qomi, was designed to focus purely on Iraqi issue and means to stabilize the war-torn country.

Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki delivered opening speech, saying that "We have a feeling that we are concerned directly, though we endeavors to address both the Iranian side and the U.S. to the right direction."

"We hope that the U.S. and Iranian meeting would be positive, transparent and responsible," the channel quoted Maliki as saying.

The Iraqi government said earlier that it has been encouraging both sides to launch dialogue and settle the problems that have negative impact on the Iraqi situation.

Maliki confirmed that his government is "keen that the Iraqi issue is exclusively to be discussed in the dialogue."

The talks is the first for the United States and Iran since the diplomatic relations have been severed for more than two decades.

Source: Xinhua