BAGHDAD – The U.S. and Iraq are close to a deal to keep U.S. troops in this country next year but it will take “bold political decisions” to overcome the final hurdles, Iraq's foreign minister said Tuesday.

Hoshyar Zebari made the comments at a joint press conference with U.S. Deputy Secretary of State John Negroponte in Baghdad's U.S.-protected Green Zone.

They spoke shortly after two bombs attached to cars exploded in the parking lot in front of the nearby Foreign Ministry. At least seven Iraqis, including a soldier, were injured, police said.

Zebari said the two sides were “very close” to an agreement to replace the U.N. mandate for U.S.-led forces that expires at the end of this year.

U.S. and Iraqi negotiators have been working for months to hammer out an agreement to govern the operations of American troops in this country. Iraqi officials say the deal calls for U.S. troops to leave the country by the end of 2011 unless the Baghdad government asks them to stay.

But immunity has emerged as a major stumbling block. The Iraqis want legal jurisdiction over American soldiers as an affirmation of sovereignty.

Zebari said new ideas have been presented that “could be acceptable or reasonable,” but gave no details, and cautioned that no final agreement had been reached.

“I don't want to give you any false hope about where we are, but I think we are very close,” he told reporters, citing as a main sticking point the question of U.S. troops' legal immunity under Iraqi law.

“This issue needs, I think, some bold political decisions. And we are at that stage,” he said, adding that there likely will be “hectic political meetings here in Baghdad on this issue to determine the fate of the agreement.”

The agreement must be approved by parliament, and Iraqi officials fear opposition unless the deal satisfies Iraqi nationalists.

Negroponte refused to discuss specifics of the talks, saying only that “both countries are pursuing this issue from the point of view of their own national self-interest.”

A spokesman for the secular Iraqi National Congress said later that the Iraqi side wants a security deal but American demands for control were making it difficult to reach an agreement.

“The problem is the immunity, random arrests of Iraqis, the control over Iraqi airspace and the U.S. demand for tax exemptions, all of which are tough demands that Iraq would find hard to offer,” spokesman Mohammed Hassan al-Moussawi said.

The Iraqi government is under strong pressure from neighboring Iran not to enter into a security agreement with the United States. Tehran opposes the security talks, saying that American troops' presence in Iraq causes regional instability. Gen. Masoud Jazayeri, deputy chief of staff of the Iranian armed forces, said Tuesday the agreement would be a “disgrace” for the Iraqis.

U.S. and Iraqi officials have warned that slow political progress could jeopardize the security gains. One of the latest obstacles to emerge is a dispute over the parliament's decision to exclude a minorities quota in a provincial elections law passed last month.

Iraq's three-member presidential panel said it has approved the law but asked lawmakers to pass a separate bill that would set aside a number of seats for Christians, Yazidis and other small religious communities on the provincial councils.

Meanwhile, a U.S. soldier was fatally wounded during a firefight in Mosul on Tuesday when American troops responded to a report that an al-Qaeda member with a suicide vest was inside, the U.S. said.

One Iraqi policeman and a militant were also killed in the clash, which ended when a U.S. aircraft destroyed the building.

Elsewhere in Mosul, a suicide car bomber targeted a U.S. military patrol, killing an Iraqi civilian and wounding 10 others, said Iraqi police spokesman Brig. Gen. Khalid Abdul-Sattar.

Three American soldiers also were wounded in that attack, said U.S. military spokesman Sgt. Alfredo Jimenez.

Associated Press writers Vanessa Gera, Muhieddin Rashad and Sinan Salaheddin contributed to this report.