SHARM EL-SHEIK, Egypt, May 3 (UPI) -- Amid very tense relations and a complex war ravaging in Iraq, the top U.S. diplomat for the first time exchanged greetings with her Iranian counterpart.
Officials attending a conference on Iraq in Egypt's Sharm el-Sheik resort Thursday said U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and Iranian Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki met at the same lunch gathering hosted by Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki.
Egypt's Foreign Minister Ahmad Abul Gheit told reporters Rice and Mottaki only "exchanged pleasantries" over lunch, and U.S. State Department spokesman Sean McCormack added that the two only "said hello, that's about it."
Though few words were exchanged, they nevertheless were at the highest level between the two countries, which have not had diplomatic ties since the 1979 Islamic revolution in Iran and whose relations have been deteriorating over Iran's role in war-torn Iraq and Tehran's nuclear program.
The additional significance of this non-political greeting on the sidelines of a political, economic forum of Iraq's friends and neighbors in the Egyptian Red Sea resort is that it came shortly after Rice met with Foreign Minister Walid Moallem of Syria, a staunch Iran ally that has been another thorn in Washington's side.
A high-level Egyptian diplomat told United Press International the two met to discuss Syria's role in tightening its borders with Iraq against infiltrating anti-U.S. fighters, and to discuss the easing of its influence on the Hezbollah-led opposition in Lebanon, a country gripped by a political crisis.
This has been the first U.S.-Syrian meeting of its kind in years, as Arab analysts see the Bush administration might be, after all, heeding some of the recommendations of the Baker-Hamilton report that proposed engaging Syria and Iran in a dialogue to resolve the Iraq crisis and the Middle East conflict.
No comments:
Post a Comment