Iran rules out Rice 'dialogue' at Iraq conference

TEHRAN (AFP) - Iran on Tuesday ruled out engaging in a "dialogue" with US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice at a conference on Iraq's security this week, saying the time was not right for negotiations.

Iranian Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki is to attend the May 3-4 conference in Egypt alongside Rice, raising expectations the two could meet in the highest-level bilateral talks between the two foes since 1980.

But asked whether the two would hold talks at the Sharm el-Sheikh meeting, Deputy Foreign Minister Mehdi Mostafavi replied: "For the moment the conditions do not exist for such a dialogue.

"The United States cannot have this hostile attitude and say on the other hand that they are favourable to negotiations," he told the ISNA news agency.

Government spokesman Gholam Hossein Elham said: "The question of negotiations with the United States is not serious.

"So long as the United States does not renounce its attitude and oppressive and satanic vision, the problems will not be solved," he added, according to the Mehr news agency.

Iran had initially shown reluctance to even take part in the conference in the Red Sea resort of Sharm el-Sheikh, saying it was unhappy that world powers like the United States were taking part alongside Iraq's neighbours.

However its decision this week to send Mottaki immediately sparked speculation that the foreign minister could hold landmark talks with Rice. Washington also refused to rule out such an encounter.

The latest comments by Iranian officials appear to indicate Tehran is not interested in substantive one-on-one talks with Rice at the summit while still leaving the door open for more informal contact.

Verbal exchanges between the two foes, who have had no diplomatic ties since 1980, remain distinctly frosty, with Washington accusing Tehran of aiding insurgents in Iraq and seeking nuclear weapons. Iran denies both charges.

Washington cut ties with Iran in 1980 after radical students stormed the US embassy in Tehran in late 1979 and held staff hostage for 444 days. Ties have remained frozen ever since.

Channels of communication have been opened sporadically since then, most notably when the United States and Iran cooperated after the overthrow of Afghanistan's Taliban rulers.

The United States has said it is only prepared to have full negotiations with Iran if Tehran suspends uranium enrichment, something Tehran has refused to do. Iran says it is ready for talks but without preconditions.

"The United States cannot one day vote a budget to take actions against Iran, to threaten us militarily and then say that they want to negotiate with us. They need to show they want logical and just relations," said Mostafavi.

"The objective is not to just have a dialogue. The objective is to have healthy relations between the two countries and for that the conditions need to be created," he added.

US President George W. Bush said Rice would be "polite but firm" if she encounters Mottaki at the conference but warned against expecting any breakthrough between the two foes.

If Mottaki and Rice meet, it will be the first such contact since then Iranian foreign minister Kamal Kharazi and US secretary of state Colin Powell were seated next to each other by their Egyptian hosts at dinner at a similar Iraq conference in November 2004.

"We can have discussions, just as (President Mahmoud) Ahmadinejad said he was ready to have a televised debate with Bush," Mostafavi said, referring to an offer that was rejected by the White House last year.

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