Rice arrives in Egypt, ready for Iran

SHARM EL-SHEIKH, Egypt, May 2 (Reuters) US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice arrived in Egypt today for meetings to try and stabilize Iraq and said she could also address any question from Iran on the sidelines of the talks.

En route to the Red Sea coastal resort, Rice sought to tone down expectations on the outcome of two days of meetings bringing in Iraq's neighbours, including Iran and Syria, as well as the G8 and European Union.

''Let's not have overreaching expectations (about the meetings).

It will take some time to overcome suspicions in the region,'' she told reporters travelling with her.

On arrival, her first meeting was with Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki, to be followed by talks with U.N. Secretary General Ban ki-Moon and China's Foreign Minister Yang Jiechi.

Direct talks with U.S. foes Iran and Syria were not on the official agenda but Rice said she would not avoid an exchange with Iranian Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki.

''If we encounter each other then I am certainly planning to be polite and see what that encounter brings,'' said Rice, who attended a meeting with Mottaki about Iraq last September at the United Nations but did not have any contact with him.

Rice said talks with Iran, which could be the most substantive high-level U.S. meeting with Tehran in nearly three decades, would focus on Iraq but she would not cut off a conversation if it turned to Tehran's nuclear program.

''I think I can handle any question that is asked of me,'' she said. ''If we encounter each other and wander to other subjects I am prepared to address them at least in terms of American policy,'' added Rice.

In London, US Undersecretary of State Nicholas Burns said the talks in Egypt ''will be important because Secretary Rice will be seated around the table with the Syrian foreign minister and we hope and think with the Iranian foreign minister, although the Iranians have been a little bit ambivalent.'' ''We look forward to a good discussion ... our ambition would be that we see these barriers come down and we see the two countries begin to talk and we see the prospect of a brighter and more peaceful Middle East,'' he told an audience at the Chatham House think tank.

Asked whether she would meet the Syrians, Rice told reporters that she ''would not rule it out.'' Syria and other Arab nations are joining a meeting of the quartet of Middle East mediators on Friday to discuss an Arab peace initiative.

The United States is at odds with Iran over its nuclear program and says it will negotiate with Iran only if it suspends uranium enrichment which Washington says is aimed at building a bomb and Iran says is for electricity generation.

''If the Iranians were to take a decision (to suspend) then we could have much broader talks,'' said Rice.

SUSPICIONS The meetings in Egypt take place amid unrelenting sectarian violence in Iraq and concern from Iraq's neighbors, particularly Saudi Arabia, that Shi'ite Prime Minister Maliki is not committed to reconciliation and that violence will spill over.

Rice, whose government is under pressure to bring home US troops in an increasingly unpopular war, said Maliki's government had made a greater effort recently to reconcile the majority Shi'ites and Sunni Arabs. She urged Iraq's neighbors to put more pressure on key players in Iraq.

''It is also an opportunity for the neighbors to be supportive of those efforts and to use their influence with important political factions in Iraq,'' she said.

Friday's conference is preceded by a meeting tomorrow, attended by about 60 countries to endorse the International Compact for Iraq, a five-year plan that grants international support in exchange for reforms by Iraq.

Reuters RS DB2230