US wants greater effort from Iraq to form government

US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton on Tuesday urged Iraqis on all sides to make greater efforts to overcome differences and end a four-month stalemate in forming a government.

"More is needed from everyone involved," Clinton said after talks with her Iraqi counterpart Hoshyar Zebari, saying she shared "a sense of urgency."

"We urge the leaders of Iraq to reach a agreement and to put their personal interest behind the national interest," she said.

"I reiterated the US has no preference about the outcome... but we are concerned about the delay," the top US diplomat said.

For his part, Zebari said the delay was being taken seriously and that despite "some delays, eventually a government will emerge."

"We are doing our best to do that, in order to avoid any constitutional, governmental vacuum."

Iraqi politicians on Monday extended an inaugural parliamentary session by two weeks to give rival blocs more time to form a government, more than four months after the elections.

The parliament, the second democratically elected chamber since the 2003 fall of dictator Saddam Hussein, met briefly for the first time on June 14 after the March 7 general election.

Under the conflict-wracked country's new constitution, there was a one-month deadline from that date for members to reconvene.

But deadlock over who will become Iraq's new prime minister has stalled efforts to form a government.

"Anything the US can do, we stand ready to do in order to encourage the government formation as soon as possible," Clinton said.

Eager to see a peaceful resolution before it begins withdrawing troops in September, Washington has sought to break the political deadlock.

In early July, US Vice President Joe Biden traveled to Iraq to urge politicians to put aside personal ambitions and form a government representative of all Iraqis.