Iraq pressing for Rice talks with Iran: diplomats

U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice (R) meets with Iraqi Foreign Minister Hoshyar Zebari on the sidelines of the conference on Iraq in Sharm El-Sheikh, May 3, 2007.

SHARM EL-SHEIKH, Egypt (Reuters) - Baghdad is pressing for talks between U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and her Iranian counterpart on Friday when an international conference seeks ways to end the Iraq conflict, diplomats said.

But the diplomats, who declined to be named, said Iran was holding out against substantial contacts with Rice, although she and Iranian Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki exchanged what U.S. officials described as pleasantries over lunch on Thursday.

Rice's encounter with Mottaki and talks with Syria's foreign minister later on Thursday marked 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.

Baghdad's interest in seeing a Rice-Mottaki meeting is clear as it is widely acknowledged Shi'ite Muslim Iran is an influential force on Iraq, both as a neighbor and because of its links with elements in the Shi'ite-led Iraqi government.

The U.S. ambassador to Iraq, Ryan Crocker, did not rule out a meeting between Rice and Mottaki.

"We are just going to take it as it goes. We will see ... what options present themselves," Crocker told reporters.

"The point from our side is not to have meetings with the Iranians. It is what can we do in Iraq and what can we do in the region to create better circumstances and a better future for the Iraqis," said Crocker.

Talks between Rice and Mottaki would be one of the highest-level U.S.-Iran contacts since a 1979 revolution turned Iran from a close U.S. ally into the arch-foe Islamic Republic. Over the years Iran has been the less enthusiastic on dialogue.

Iraq has met its neighbors several times over the past three years and has received promises of cooperation on border security but says insurgents are still able to smuggle fighters and weapons into the country.

CIVIL WAR

Baghdad is dependent on U.S. military support in its drive to halt a slide into all-out civil war by stamping out sectarian violence and defeating insurgents who draw support from the Sunni Arab minority once-dominant under Saddam Hussein.

Washington has accused Iran of fomenting violence in Iraq. Tehran rejects the charge.

Lower level U.S. and Iranian envoys spoke to each other directly about Iraq at regional talks in Baghdad in March.

The United States broke off diplomatic relations with Iran in 1980 over a 1979-81 hostage crisis when Iranian students held 52 U.S. citizens for 444 days.

U.S.-led forces invaded Iraq in March 2003 to topple Saddam, but U.S. troops -- now numbering more than 150,000 -- have since failed to stop the violence.

At the conference in the Egyptian Red Sea resort of Sharm el-Sheikh on Friday, Iraq's neighbors as well as ministers from the Group of Eight leading industrialized nations and the European Union will discuss how to stabilize the country.

Rice's 30-minute meeting with Syrian Foreign Minister Walid al-Moualem on Thursday was Washington's highest-level contact with Syria in more than two years.

She described the talks as "professional and business-like" and said she had urged Syria to stop foreign fighters entering Iraq. Moualem said the talks were "frank and constructive".

"I didn't lecture him, he didn't lecture me," said Rice.

Washington has accused Syria of allowing foreign fighters to enter Iraq through the long border between the two countries and is pressing for an international tribunal to try suspects in the 2005 killing of former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik al-Hariri.

A U.N. investigation has implicated Lebanese and Syrian security officials in the killing, but Damascus denies this.

The U.S. military acknowledged on Thursday Syria was doing more to stop the flow of fighters into Iraq. A spokesman said the military had observed a reduction in the last month.