The four years since US President Bush declared “Mission Accomplished” have been a legacy of missed opportunities, ineffectual plans, surges and course corrections that have always been too little, too late or both, critics say.

Iraq’s foreign minister said Sunday that he expects to soon see “substantive discussions” among US, Iranian and Iraqi diplomats on improving security and stability in his country. But it was unclear if the United States and Iran had agreed to a meeting.

Iran’s Judiciary Chief Ayatollah Hashemi Shahroudi said that Tehran’s active participation in Iraq security conference in the Egyptian Red Sea resort town of Sharm el-Sheikh played a significant role in defusing the US administration’s hostile measures against Iran.