A senior U.S. diplomat met Iran's delegate at an international conference in the Hague on Tuesday in a sign of tentatively improving ties after decades of hostility between Washington and Tehran.
In a rare diplomatic exchange, the United States also directly gave a letter to Tehran seeking help to resolve three separate cases involving Americans, one a former FBI agent who went missing in Iran two years ago.
U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton welcomed Iran's participation at the Hague conference on Afghanistan, which she proposed and personally had urged Tehran to attend.
"I think the fact that they came today, that they intervened today is a promising sign that there will be future cooperation," Clinton said.
She said U.S. special envoy to Afghanistan and Pakistan, Richard Holbrooke, met briefly with Iranian deputy foreign minister Mohammad Mehdi Akhoundzadeh on the sidelines of the meeting on Afghanistan.
"It did not focus on anything substantive. It was cordial, it was unplanned and they agreed to stay in touch," Clinton said, without specifying when their next contact would be.
While unscripted, Holbrooke's encounter reflected a strong wish by the Obama administration to engage Iran on issues of mutual concern such as Afghanistan and help kickstart what the new U.S. president says could be a "new beginning" with Tehran.
Former U.S. President George W. Bush branded Iran as part of an "axis of evil" along with North Korea and Saddam Hussein's Iraq because of its support for anti-Israeli militant groups.
The two countries are currently at odds over Iran's nuclear program, which the West says is a cover to build an atomic bomb and Iran says is for peaceful energy use.
The United States cut off diplomatic ties with Tehran during the 1979-1981 hostage crisis in which militant Iranian students held 52 diplomats hostage at the U.S. embassy for 444 days.
Clinton said a letter was handed directly to the Iranian delegation at the conference. Usually such diplomatic exchanges are made via the Swiss, which represent U.S. interests with Iran because of the lack of diplomatic ties.
The letter asked for "humanitarian help" for three Americans she said were unable to return to the United States.
They are missing ex-FBI agent Robert Levinson and a freelance journalist, Iranian-American Roxana Saberi, who was jailed at the end of January in Iran. The third, Esha Momeni, is an Iranian-American student.
"HUMANITARIAN GESTURE"
"We ask Iran to use all its facilities to determine the whereabouts and ensure the quick and safe return of Robert Levinson, and grant the release of Roxana Saberi, and permission to travel for Roxana Saberi and Esha Momeni," said an excerpt of the letter released by the U.S. State Department.
Clinton indicated a positive response would help relations with Iran after three decades of enmity.
"These acts would certainly constitute a humanitarian gesture by the Islamic Republic of Iran in keeping with the spirit of renewal and generosity that marks the Persian new year," she told a news conference.
Earlier at the meeting, Iran's delegate agreed to help fight drugs trafficking in Afghanistan but also criticized the presence of foreign troops in Afghanistan.
"The presence of foreign forces has not improved things in the country and it seems that an increase in the number of foreign forces will prove ineffective too," Akhoundzadeh said.
Despite the criticism, a senior U.S. official said he saw a much better tone overall from Tehran at the conference.
"Having heard the Iranian speech at many conferences, this was better," he told reporters. "Instead of blaming everyone else they said they want to work with people in the region."
Clinton welcomed Iran's pledge to fight drugs trafficking and said Iran had put forward "some very clear ideas that we will be pursuing together."
She said she had no direct dealings with Akhoundzadeh. They were seated alphabetically at a horseshoe-shaped table in the meeting room when they made their speeches.