US: Rice to meet her Iranian counterpart next week

Washington, Apr 30: US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice may meet her Iranian counterpart Manouchehr Mottaki at an international conference on Iraqi security in Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt, later this week.

An indication to this effect was given by Rice herself in her television appearance in a talk-shows on US television yesterday.

Rice, who will also attend the Sharm el-Sheikh conference to be held on Thursday and Friday, said she would not rule out a possible meeting with Mottaki on the sidelines of the meeting.

''I would not rule it out. We will be there not to talk about US-Iranian issues, [but] how Iraq's neighbors can help to stabilise Iraq. And I will not rule it out,'' she said.

If the Rice and Mottaki meeting materialised as expected, it would be the first highest-level talks between Washington and Tehran in many years. The two countries had no formal diplomatic relations after the seizure of the US embassy in Tehran in 1979.

Several Middle Eastern countries, including Iran and Syria, the European Union and the five permanent members of the UN Security Council, are expected to attend the conference, termed the International Compact with Iraq and the Expanded Neighbors of Iraq.

Rice and the foreign ministers from 20 other countries will attend the conference aimed at engaging Iraq's neighbors in helping improve security.

Of late the US military in Iraq has been accusing Iran of interfering in Iraq's internal affairs, supplying weapons to support Iraqi Shi'ite insurgent groups. They detained five Iranian officials in January in the northern city of Irbil.

Iran denies charges of interference and says the men, detained by the US military, are diplomats.

UNI

RelatedStories