U.S. Officials Meet Briefly With Iranians

SHARM EL SHEIK, Egypt, May 4 — American and Iranian officials spoke briefly today at a regional conference here on the Iraq situation, in a rare direct conversation between representatives of the two antagonistic nations.

Foreign Minister Walid al-Moallem of Syria was mobbed after his 30-minute meeting with Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice on Thursday.

Ryan Crocker, the United States ambassador to Iraq, said that he and David Satterfield, who is the senior adviser on Iraq to Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, had an impromptu 3-minute discussion with an Iranian deputy foreign minister. Ms. Rice and Iranian Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki, did not participate.

Iranian officials downplayed the encounter. There was no formal meeting between Iranian experts and American experts, Mr. Mottaki said. If there were some exchanges and discussions, this doesnt mean a formal meeting between experts.

Mr. Crocker would not say what was discussed, except that the conversation was limited to the situation in Iraq.

Afterward, Ms. Rice said: We have no desire to have difficult relations with anyone in Iran. She said the United States has been very clear that we are prepared to change 27 years of policy and engage in a broad range of issues with Iran if Iran accepts international demands that it suspend its nuclear enrichment program.

Whether American and Iranian officials would meet and talk directly here at all has been one of the major questions surrounding the international conference. On Thursday, Ms. Rice met with her Syrian counterpart, the first high-level diplomatic contact between Washington and Damascus in more than two years. The meetings with Syrian and Iranian officials appeared to signal a significant, if unstated, change in approach for the Bush White House concerning relations in the Middle East, analysts throughout the region said. Washington is asking for help, even from foes it has spurned in the past. Under pressure from its Arab allies, the Bush administration has slowly edged away from its position that direct talks can be conducted only as a reward for what it considers good behavior.

Iranian-American relations have been especially tense lately, with the United States saying that Shiite militias in Iraq have used weaponry from Iran in attacks on American troops, and with the United States pressing Iran to suspend its nuclear enrichment program. The United States has no diplomatic relations with Iran and has sought to isolate and contain the country.

In todays opening remarks at the conference, Irans foreign minister, Mr. Mottaki, did not seem to have changed his countrys position toward the United States.

The terrorists claim that they are fighting the forces of occupation, while the occupiers justify their presence under the pretext of the war on terror, he said. Therefore, this axis of occupation-terrorism is the root of all problems in Iraq.

He said the problems in Iraq are the fault of the Americans, so they should not point the finger at others.

At the conference luncheon on Thursday, attended by diplomats from 60 countries, Ms. Rice and Mr. Mottaki exchanged pleasantries. Ms. Rice had planned to approach Mr. Mottaki at dinner Thursday evening, held by Egypts foreign minister, Ahmed Aboul Gheit. But Mr. Mottaki left the dinner before Ms. Rice arrived — and apparently before eating.

Iranian officials said that Mr. Mottaki was not avoiding Ms. Rice; rather, they said, he left because he considered the red dress worn by one of the events entertainers to be too revealing, according to news services.

Today, Sean McCormack, a State Department spokesman, sounded dubious about that explanation. Im not sure which woman he was afraid of, the one in the red dress or the secretary of state, he said.

In the two-day conference here, the Bush administration has been seeking the help of Iraqs neighbors, and countries around the world, to quell the violence there and relieve Iraqs enormous debt.

Ms. Rices talk here on Thursday with Syrias foreign minister, Walid al-Moallem, lasted only 30 minutes but was substantive. She asked that Syria, with its porous border with Iraq, do more to restrict the flow of foreign fighters. Bush administration officials noted afterward that it might already be happening; in the past month, they said, there had been a drop in the number of foreign fighters traveling over the Syrian border into Iraq.

Ms. Rice characterized her meeting with Mr. Moallem as professional, adding, I didnt lecture him, and he didnt lecture me.

Helene Cooper reported from Sharm el Sheik, Egypt and Jon Elsen from New York. Michael Slackman contributed reporting from Sharm el Sheik.

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