CAIRO (AP) – America said Sunday it is willing to talk to Iran if discussions deal only with Iraq, where the Bush administration says Tehran is undermining the Baghdad government and exporting deadly roadside bombs.

“We are willing to have that conversation limited to Iraq issues at the ambassador level,” Vice President Cheney’s spokeswoman said after he met with Egyptian President Mubarak.

Lea Anne McBride said the willingness to talk with the Iranians about security issues in Iraq is consistent with American policy and does not reflect a new position.

Iran’s official news agency reported Sunday that America sought meetings in Baghdad to discuss security in Iraq. Iran reportedly received the request through the Swiss Embassy in Tehran, which often acts as an intermediary for America in the country.

“Iran has agreed to this (negotiation) after consultation with Iraqi officials, in order to lessen the pain of the Iraqi people, support the Iraqi government and establish security and peace in Iraq,” the state-run IRNA quoted Mohammad Ali Hosseini, the foreign ministry spokesman, as saying.

Ms. McBride said the comments appeared to refer to what America has called “the Baghdad channel … our willingness to talk to the Iranians at the ambassador level about Iraq-specific issues.”

She could not confirm specifics, such as whether America had made a formal request.

A White House spokesman, however, said “you could expect a meeting in the next few weeks” between the American ambassador to Iraq, Ryan Crocker, and the Iranians. “The purpose is to try to make sure that the Iranians play a productive role in Iraq,” Gordon Johndroe said. He said the meeting would take place in Baghdad.

“The Baghdad channel is something that we’ve talked about for some time now,” Mr. Johndroe told reporters accompanying President Bush on a trip to Jamestown, Va., to celebrate the 400th anniversary of the first English settlement in America.

Asked if America requested the meeting, Mr. Johndroe would not say. “There have been discussions on the margins of various meetings over the last few months,” he said.

Iran and America are the nations with the most influence over Iraq’s fate, and Iraqi leaders have leaned on the Bush administration to try to cooperate with Iran.

Iraq’s foreign minister told The Associated Press he expected the talks to occur in the coming weeks. A Baghdad setting would allow for “serious, quiet and focused discussions on the responsibilities and the obligations of all to help stabilize the situation in Iraq,” Hoshyar Zebari said.

“I think it’s important to address the issue in a frontal way by putting all the facts on the table,” he added.

Mr. Zebari said in a telephone interview he was pleased the Iranians “have accepted this and expressed their willingness and readiness to participate in the talks.”

The development came while Mr. Cheney is on a mission to persuade moderate Arab states to do more to support the Iraqi government of Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki. The vice president was also seeking to counter Iran’s growing influence across the region.

In March, lower-level American and Iranian diplomats held rare talks on the sidelines of Baghdad gathering that was a precursor to an international conference on Iraq held in Egypt this month.

Despite speculation of a Cabinet-level meeting at that conference, neither Secretary of State Rice nor Iranian Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki wanted to make the initial move, passing up what would have been the first high-level, face-to-face talks since America broke off relations with Tehran over the 1979 hostage crisis.

The only direct American-Iran contact came in a casual chat between the American ambassador to Iraq, Ryan Crocker, and Iran’s deputy foreign minister, Abbas Araghchi.

Until this spring, the administration dismissed calls for an outreach to Iran and Syria; at the Egyptian conference, Ms. Rice did sit down for a talk with Syria’s top diplomat.

Mr. Zebari would not rule out the possibility that the American detention of five Iranians in northern Iraq might come up during the planned talks. The American military has said the Iranians are suspected of links to a network supplying arms to Iraqi insurgents; Iran has denied the accusation.

Mr. Cheney was in the Egyptian capital for a short round of talks on the future of Iraq with Mr. Mubarak, a key American ally in the region. Mr. Cheney is trying to shore up support amid growing skepticism across the Arab world toward the effectiveness of the American military buildup in Iraq.

After the talks, the vice president headed back to Jordan, ending his weeklong trip to the Middle East with talks with Jordan’s King Abdullah.

The trip has also taken him to Iraq, the United Arab Emirates, and to the carrier USS John C. Stennis in the Persian Gulf to rally troops.

On the carrier about 150 miles from the Iranian coast, Mr. Cheney warned Iran that America and its allies would prevent the country from developing nuclear weapons and dominating the region. Washington accuses Iran of pursuing a nuclear weapons program. Tehran insists the program is only intended for peaceful purposes such as generating electricity.

In response to Mr. Cheney’s remarks, Mr. Hosseini on Sunday accused Washington of spreading fear in the Middle East.

“The U.S. is pursuing the creation of crisis, panic, fear and insecurity in the region, which we strongly oppose,” he said.

Iran’s Defense Minister, Mostafa Mohammad Najjar, dismissed Mr. Cheney’s statements as “psychological operations” and cautioned America against military action, according to the semi-official ISNA news agency.

“I warn Mr. Cheney and other American leaders that response by the Iranian nation and its armed forces to any military option will be strong, swift and surprising,” he was quoted as saying.

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Associated Press writers Kim Gamel in Baghdad and Ben Feller in Jamestown, Va., contributed to this report.