WASHINGTON, April 29, 2007 (AFP) – US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said Sunday she would not rule out meeting with her Iranian counterpart on the sidelines of a multinational conference on Iraq security next week.
"I will not rule out that we may encounter each other," she said.
WASHINGTON, April 29, 2007 (AFP) – US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said Sunday she would not rule out meeting with her Iranian counterpart on the sidelines of a multinational conference on Iraq security next week.
"I will not rule out that we may encounter each other," she said.
"This is not a meeting about the United States and Iran, this is a meeting about Iraq and about what Iraq’s neighbors and interested parties can do to help stabilize the situation in Iraq," she told ABC news.
She said it was "quite obvious" what Tehran would need to do help violence-racked Iraq.
"Stop the flow of arms to foreign fighters. Stop the flow of foreign fighters across the borders. Stop using advanced IED technology to kill American soldiers. Stop stirring up trouble among militias that then go and kill innocent Iraqis.
"It’s quite clear what needs to be done," she said.
President George W. Bush last week suggested Rice might have bilateral talks with the Iranian foreign minister at the conference of ministers from the five permanent members of the UN Security Council, the Group of Eight and Iraq’s neighbors at the Egyptian resort of Sharm el-Sheikh on May 3 and 4.
He indicated however that there would be no one-to-one talks outside such a forum.
Asked in an interview with PBS television whether Rice might have "bilateral conversations" in Egypt with Iranian Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki, Bush replied: "They could, they could."
"I’m more than happy to send our representatives to a regional conference, all aiming at helping the Iraq government gain credibility in the international community," he said.
"What I’m not willing to do is sit down bilaterally with the Iranians."
Iran — which the United States accuses of sponsoring violent factions fighting in its neighbor — has demanded the release of five Iranian officials held in Iraq by US forces on suspicion of weapons smuggling.
US-Iranian relations for months have been strained by Tehran’s nuclear program, which Washington charges is cover to develop atomic weapons, despite the Islamic republic’s insistence that it is only for civilian nuclear power.
