Rice, Iranian minister exchange words over lunch

SHARM EL-SHEIKH, Egypt, May 3 (Reuters) US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and Iranian Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki exchanged pleasantries over lunch at a conference in Egypt today, a US spokesman said.

''They said hello. It was not about substance,'' said US State Department spokesman Sean McCormack.

Egyptian Foreign Minister Ahmed Aboul Gheit called it an exchange of words. ''They are civilised people after all,'' he told reporters.

Reuters SG DB1909