Iraqi and American negotiators missed a July deadline to seal a legal framework for US bases and troop operations in the country. Until Mr Crocker's remarks that Iran was "pushing very hard" against the deal, Iranian interference was a factor that went officially unacknowledged.
Mr Crocker also told the Los Angeles Times that Iran was exerting increasing control over extremist Shia muslim activists that were previous linked to the upstart cleric, Moqtada al-Sadr.
"The Iraqi people disagree with anything that breaks their independence and sovereignty and judicial sovereignty," he said. "On this basis, the Iraqi people and the Iraqi government look at the agreement as being imposed on them."
Mr Maliki has also insisted that the US pull out all its troops from Iraq by the end of 2011 but the US is only prepared to concede a transition to fully Iraq control of security by that date would be a shared goal.
Securing the approval of the Iraqi parliament for any deal looms as a further impediment to a quick resolution of the impasse. Iraqi MPs have warned that there is deep suspicion of US intentions across the political spectrum. Dhafer al-Ani, a Sunni politician, warned that parliament would conduct a protracted debate on the document: "Due to the sensitivity of the issue, the arguments in parliament will be acute." -link
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