…do you expect Iran to cooperate?

By Howard Cincotta
USINFO Special Correspondent
Washington — The most positive steps Iran could take to enhance Iraqi
security would be to halt the flow of explosives and foreign fighters
across Iraq’s border and to stop supporting armed militia groups that are
“killing innocent Iraqi citizens,” Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice
says.
In several television news interviews April 29, Rice said she would not
rule out a meeting with the Iranian foreign minister at an upcoming
international conference on Iraqi security. However, she said on CBS’s Face
the Nation, the conference participants “will be there not to talk about
U.S.-Iranian issues, but to talk about Iraq, and how Iraq’s neighbors can
help to stabilize Iraq.”
A number of Middle Eastern nations, including Iran and Syria, and
international organizations like the European Union and the U.N. Security
Council, are expected to attend the conference, termed the International
Compact with Iraq and the Expanded Neighbors of Iraq. It will be held May
3-4 at Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt, where Secretary Rice will join the foreign
ministers from 21 countries. …