Hopes fade for Iran-US thaw
Saturday, May 5, 2007
HOPES that an international conference on Iraq would prompt a thaw in US-Iranian ties faded yesterday when Iran accused the United States of terrorism in the war-torn country.
Speculation had mounted since the start last 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.
"Mottaki was referring to countries which, like the United States, carry out acts of terrorism in Iraq," a spokesman for the Iranian delegation at the conference told AFP.
"When the United States arrests five Iranian diplomats in Iraq, it is an act of terrorism," he said on condition of anonymity.
On January 11, US troops dropped from helicopters and stormed an Iranian liaison office in Arbil, the capital of the northern Iraqi Kurdistan region, and detained six employees, one of whom was later released.
The United States has said the men had links to Iran's elite Revolutionary Guards and none of them held diplomatic passports.
The US commander in Iraq, General David Petraeus, told reporters at the Pentagon that American forces were in fact holding seven Iranians but did not elaborate where and when the other two were arrested.
Iranian and US officials nevertheless met yesterday on the sidelines of the security talks.
"Today, there was meeting on the sidelines of the conference, at an expert level not a ministerial one, between the American side and the Iranian side," Iraqi Foreign Minister Hoshyar Zebari told a news conference.
He did not provide details of the discussions but welcomed the meeting as "a positive sign".
Hopes of the highest-level direct talks between Iran and the United States since the foes broke off ties in 1980 soured when Mottaki walked out of a dinner attended by Rice last Thursday.
Mottaki claimed he was offended by the revealing dress the venue's Russian violinist was wearing, said US officials, who suggested his discomfort may have had more to do with a table layout that left him directly facing Rice.
"I am not sure which woman he was afraid of: the woman in the red dress or the secretary of state," said state department spokesman Sean McCormack.
The two officials had exchanged polite conversation at a lunch earlier last Thursday, fueling speculation of further talks.
In stark contrast, Rice held her administration's highest-level talks with Syria in two years last Thursday, in an apparent shift of policy.
Rice held a meeting with Syrian Foreign Minister Walid Muallem during which she urged him to stem what she called the flow of foreign fighters crossing into Iraq to join groups combating US troops and the Shi'ite government.
"This is not a favour to the US, it is an opportunity to help stabilise Iraq and therefore serve the neighbourhood," she said after the meeting.
The US military in Baghdad also sent diverging messages on Syria and Iran, noting last Thursday a reduction in the amount of foreign fighters crossing in from Syria and announcing yesterday the arrest of militants smuggling bombs.Yesterday's security talks were expected to clinch a stronger commitment by Iraq's most influential neighbours to increase cooperation.AFP
Speculation had mounted since the start last 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.
"Mottaki was referring to countries which, like the United States, carry out acts of terrorism in Iraq," a spokesman for the Iranian delegation at the conference told AFP.
"When the United States arrests five Iranian diplomats in Iraq, it is an act of terrorism," he said on condition of anonymity.
On January 11, US troops dropped from helicopters and stormed an Iranian liaison office in Arbil, the capital of the northern Iraqi Kurdistan region, and detained six employees, one of whom was later released.
The United States has said the men had links to Iran's elite Revolutionary Guards and none of them held diplomatic passports.
The US commander in Iraq, General David Petraeus, told reporters at the Pentagon that American forces were in fact holding seven Iranians but did not elaborate where and when the other two were arrested.
Iranian and US officials nevertheless met yesterday on the sidelines of the security talks.
"Today, there was meeting on the sidelines of the conference, at an expert level not a ministerial one, between the American side and the Iranian side," Iraqi Foreign Minister Hoshyar Zebari told a news conference.
He did not provide details of the discussions but welcomed the meeting as "a positive sign".
Hopes of the highest-level direct talks between Iran and the United States since the foes broke off ties in 1980 soured when Mottaki walked out of a dinner attended by Rice last Thursday.
Mottaki claimed he was offended by the revealing dress the venue's Russian violinist was wearing, said US officials, who suggested his discomfort may have had more to do with a table layout that left him directly facing Rice.
"I am not sure which woman he was afraid of: the woman in the red dress or the secretary of state," said state department spokesman Sean McCormack.
The two officials had exchanged polite conversation at a lunch earlier last Thursday, fueling speculation of further talks.
In stark contrast, Rice held her administration's highest-level talks with Syria in two years last Thursday, in an apparent shift of policy.
Rice held a meeting with Syrian Foreign Minister Walid Muallem during which she urged him to stem what she called the flow of foreign fighters crossing into Iraq to join groups combating US troops and the Shi'ite government.
"This is not a favour to the US, it is an opportunity to help stabilise Iraq and therefore serve the neighbourhood," she said after the meeting.
The US military in Baghdad also sent diverging messages on Syria and Iran, noting last Thursday a reduction in the amount of foreign fighters crossing in from Syria and announcing yesterday the arrest of militants smuggling bombs.Yesterday's security talks were expected to clinch a stronger commitment by Iraq's most influential neighbours to increase cooperation.AFP
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