NEW YORK, United States: The United States plans to seek Iran's help, first of its kind in decades, in controlling the unrest in Iraq as Washington exposed a plan of withdrawal from there, and separately three Indian Za’yrin (pilgrims) kissed martyrdom when a bus, packed with pilgrims to the holy cities of Najaf and Karbala, came under fire on Monday.
 
President Bush has asked American Ambassador to Iraq Zalmay Khalilzad to reach out to Iran for assistance in the issue.
 
Newsweek quoted Khalilzad as saying he has received an ‘explicit’ permission from Bush to begin a diplomatic dialogue with Iran on the issue.
 
"I've been authorized by the president to engage the Iranians as I engaged them in Afghanistan directly," Khalilzad told Newsweek. "There will be meetings, and that's also a departure and an adjustment."
 
But he also emphasized the dangers of a panicky pullout of US troops.
 
For the first time yesterday, the White House has came out with its own version of an Iraq withdrawal plan, saying that the US troops will leave Iraq in larger numbers in 2006 and a "significant number" of the remaining the following year.