Iran to attend conference on IraqBy NASSER KARIMI, Associated Press Writer
1 hour, 12 minutes ago
TEHRAN, Iran - Iran confirmed it will take part in an international conference
alongside the United States in Baghdad on Saturday, a gathering Iraq hopes will
break the ice between the bitter rivals to help end its bloody conflict.
In a sign of how difficult it will be resolve the differences separating the various
sides, the conference of Iraq's neighbors, the United States and the U.N. Security
Council powers will be attended by officials on the level of deputy foreign minister.
A hoped-for session of higher level diplomats has been postponed until later.
-snip-On the Iranian side, Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki said Wednesday that his
country hoped "the conference will bring forward the end of the presence of foreign
forces" in Iraq — reiterating Tehran's stance that U.S. troops should withdraw.
-snip-The conference will be the first time American and Iranian officials sit together
in more than two years — a dramatic change in the Bush administration's refusal
to engage Tehran over the war in Iraq. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice has
said the conference could lead to a meeting of the participants' foreign ministers
and top diplomats as soon as April.
-snip-