Rice urges Iran to attend int'l meeting on Iraq: report
23/4/2007 16:21
US Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice has urged Tehran to attend a
conference on Iraq scheduled for May 3-4, saying that it would be a "missed
opportunity" if Iran failed to show up.
In an interview published in today's
edition of the Financial Times, Rice said "It will be a missed opportunity if he
(the Iranian foreign minister) doesn't attend, but obviously it's up to the
Iranian government."
Iran has not yet disclosed whether Foreign Minister
Manouchehr Mottaki will participate in the meeting due to be held in Egypt's Red
Sea resort of Sharm el-Sheikh.
Rice also said that the Iran policy of
President George W. Bush's administration is not aimed at a "regime
change."
"It is not the policy of the US government. The policy is to have a
change in regime behaviour," she said.
Rice will take part in the two-day
meeting and meet officials from Iran and Syria, according to the US State
Department.
The upcoming conference in Egypt is aimed at engaging Iraq's Arab
neighbors and the international community constructively in helping the Iraqi
government restore stability and begin reconstruction.
The conference is a
follow-up to an ambassador-level meeting on the security situation in Iraq held
in Baghdad on March 10, in which American officials held rare direct talks with
their foes: Iranian and Syrian officials.
Xinhua
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