Clinton says hoping to resume North Korea talks

BAGHDAD (Reuters) - U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton pressed North Korea on Saturday to return to its nuclear disarmament "obligations" and said she hoped talks on the issue would resume.

North Korea's Foreign Ministry said earlier on Saturday that the country had started to extract plutonium from spent fuel rods at its nuclear arms plant, further raising regional tensions already stoked by its defiant rocket launch this month.

"We continue along with our partners in the six-party talks to press North Korea to return to the obligations which it assumed," Clinton said during a visit to Baghdad.

"We hope that we'll be able to resume discussions with North Korea that will lead to their assuming responsibility for de-nuclearizing the peninsula."

North Korea's announcement came hours after a U.N. Security Council committee on Friday placed three North Korean companies on a U.N. blacklist for aiding Pyongyang's missile and nuclear programs, eliciting a sharp rebuke from a North Korean envoy.

Clinton, in her first visit as secretary of state to Iraq, also described as "disappointing" a statement from Iran's top authority, Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, suggesting U.S. responsibility for a recent spate of major bombings in Iraq that killed dozens of Shi'ite pilgrims from Iran.

At least 150 people were killed in attacks on Thursday and Friday, raising doubts about whether Iraq is backsliding into the sectarian bloodshed unleashed by the 2003 U.S.-led invasion, despite a sharp drop in violence over the last year.

"The main suspects in this crime and crimes similar to that, are American security and military forces," Khamenei said in a statement read on state radio on Saturday.

Clinton said she had not heard the comments.

"But I must say it is disappointing for anyone to make such a claim since it is clearly traced to the al Qaeda remnants and other violent groups," she told reporters alongside Iraqi Foreign Minister Hoshiyar Zebari.

U.S. President Barack Obama has said he would break from his predecessor George W. Bush by pursuing direct talks with Tehran, but has also warned Iran to expect more pressure if it does not meet a U.N. Security Council demand to halt uranium enrichment.

Iran says it is open to talks, but at the same time vows to press ahead with its nuclear program. It rejects suspicions from Washington and its western allies that Tehran is seeking a nuclear bomb.

(Reporting by Arshad Mohammed; Writing by Missy Ryan; Editing by Mark Trevelyan)