IF THE US is going to talk to Iran about Iraq, the first thing to do is, of course, telling them to stop sending money, explosives and weapons once and for all:

US forces have killed two gunmen and discovered a large amount of Iranian currency and bomb-making materials in a raid on the Baghdad Shiite neighbourhood of Sadr City on Wednesday.

US troops searched 11 buildings during the raid in search of a cell involved in importing weapons from Iran into Baghdad and southeastern Iraq.

"As they continued to search the buildings, coalition forces found a large quantity of Iranian money, more than 6,000 dollars in US money and improvised explosive device-making materials," said the statement.