Iran FM in Syria ahead of Iraq security conference

Mottaki said he was in Damascus for bilateral talks and that it was still too early to decide on whether Iran would take part in next month's conference to be held in the Egyptian resort of Sharm el-Sheikh, an AFP correspondent reported.

Mottaki was due to meet President Bashar al-Assad and his Syrian counterpart Walid Muallem later Tuesday, Iranian sources in Damascus said.

The conference will bring together the foreign ministers of countries bordering Iraq and world powers, including the United States.

It will follow last month's lower-level meeting in Baghdad, which was initiated by Iraq's neighbours.

Earlier this month, Mottaki signalled reluctance to participate in the Egypt conference, saying it should take place in Baghdad and comprise only Iraq's neighbours.

He ruled out any meeting with US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, whose country accuses Iran, along with Syria, of fuelling the insurgency in Iraq.

Iranian officials have also said that their country is unlikely to attend the conference as long as the US refuses to release five Iranians arrested in Iraq in January.

Iran's apparent reluctance could be also linked to bumpy relations with Egypt: Tehran severed bilateral diplomatic ties with Cairo in 1979 over former Egyptian president Anwar Sadat's decision to make peace with Israel.

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