Hopes fade for Iran-US breakthrough

[Eugene]

Source: Agence France-Presse

Hopes fade for Iran-US breakthrough

by Mona Salem
1 hour, 8 minutes ago

SHARM EL-SHEIKH, Egypt (AFP) - Hopes that an international conference on
Iraq would prompt a thaw in US-Iranian ties faded Friday when Iran accused the
United States of terrorism in the war-torn country.

Speculation had mounted since the start Thursday of the meeting in the Egyptian
resort of Sharm el-Sheikh that US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice could hold
historic talks with her Iranian counterpart Manouchehr Mottaki.

But at a meeting designed to enhance international cooperation on Iraq security,
Mottaki described US troops as "terrorists" and lashed out at Washington over
the continued detention of Iranian officials seized in January.

"To create a safe haven for those terrorists who try to turn Iraqi territory into
a base for attacking Iraq's neighbours should be condemned," the Iranian foreign
minister said.

-snip-

Read more: http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20070504/ts_afp/iraqconference_070504114706

---

Source: Associated Press

Rice, Iranian have little contact

By ANNE GEARAN and QASSIM ABDUL-ZAHRA, Associated Press Writers
28 minutes ago

SHARM EL-SHEIK, Egypt - Iran's foreign minister walked out of a dinner of diplomats
where he was seated directly across from Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice,
ostensibly because a female violinist entertaining the gathering was dressed too
revealingly.

"I don't know which woman he was afraid of, the woman in the red dress or the
secretary of state," State Department spokesman Sean McCormack said Friday,
regarding the actions of Iran's Manouchehr Mottaki.

Rice and Mottaki did eventually meet at lunch Friday but exchanged only pleasantries.
According to Iraq's foreign minister, Iranian and American ambassadors met for more
serious talks on the sidelines of the conference to stabilize Iraq — the second such
encounter since March 10.

"There was no direct meeting but they were in the same room and they were discussing
the issues," said Iraqi Foreign Minister Hoshyar Zebari.

-snip-

Read more: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070504/ap_on_re_mi_ea/iraq_conference

[maddezmom]

1. U.S., Iranian experts meet at Iraq talks

U.S., Iranian experts meet at Iraq talks
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By Mariam Karouny and Sue Pleming

SHARM EL-SHEIKH, Egypt, May 4 (Reuters) - Iran and the United States met at expert level on the sidelines of an international conference in Egypt on Friday, Iraqi Foreign Minister Hoshiyar Zebari said.

"A meeting took place on the sidelines of the meeting, not at foreign minister level but at expert level, between the American side and the Iranian side," he told a news conference.

Diplomats said U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice had been open to a meeting with Iranian Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki -- which would be the highest level contact since Iran's 1979 revolution -- but the Iranians were cool to the idea.

On Thursday Rice did meet Syrian Foreign Minister Walid al-Moualem, marking a shift in U.S. President George W. Bush's once resolute opposition to high-level contacts with Iran and Syria as he seeks ways to end the Iraq conflict.
more:http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/L03613387.htm