Rice will talk to Iran if seen as useful

WASHINGTON, April 30 (Reuters) - U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice is ready to talk with Iran on the sidelines of meetings on Iraq this week but only if such contact is deemed useful, senior U.S. officials said on Monday.

A formal meeting has not been set up between Rice and Iranian Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki when they are in the Egyptian resort of Sharm el-Sheikh to discuss Iraq, but the top U.S. diplomat has made clear she would not avoid it.

"We are obviously prepared for whatever may emerge in terms of useful dialogue on Iraq," the State Department's Iraq coordinator, David Satterfield, told reporters.

The United States has accused Iran of fomenting violence in Iraq and if Rice meets Mottaki she will call for an end to the flow of arms and foreign fighters into Iraq as well as training of insurgents. Tehran rejects claims of interference in Iraq.

"We would certainly hope to see from Iran, generally speaking, the kind of supportive steps which would match Iran's rhetorical position on Iraq. Iran declares it wants to see a stable, peaceful Iraq, sovereign within its borders," said Satterfield.

Another senior U.S. official, who asked not to be named because the issue is sensitive, said if the Iranians challenged Rice in a multilateral meeting about Iraqi border security, for example, she could at that point request private talks.

But he stressed the United States was not pushing Iran for bilateral talks and would not discuss Iran's nuclear dossier, which is being handled by the European Union's Javier Solana.

"We'll stop (the meeting) ... there is no doubt about it," said the official. "We would be undercutting our own position which is that we are willing to discuss all these things but only in the context of a suspension of uranium enrichment."

FIRM BUT POLITE

The United States accuses Iran of pursuing nuclear weapons. Iran says its nuclear program is to generate electricity and it has so far refused a Western offer of incentives and broad negotiations if it suspends its sensitive enrichment work.

President George W. Bush said if Rice bumped into her Iranian counterpart she would be polite but firm.

"She'll also be firm in reminding the representative of the Iranian government that there's a better way forward for the Iranian people than isolation," Bush said.

There will be two Iraq meetings in Sharm el-Sheikh -- one on Thursday to endorse the International Compact with Iraq, a five-year plan offering Iraq financial and political support in return for reforms.

Satterfield urged Iraq to agree on an oil-revenue sharing law that has been held up for months, saying this would help encourage foreign investment.

On Friday, Iraq's neighbors -- including Iran and Syria -- as well as ministers from the Group of Eight nations and the European Union will discuss how to stabilize Iraq, where sectarian violence has plunged the country into chaos.

The United States hopes Arab nations will be more supportive of Iraq's government, particularly Saudi Arabia which has been most resistant, said the senior U.S. official.

Saudi King Abdullah refused to meet Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki before the Iraq meetings, but U.S. officials sought to play this down, pointing to Saudi plans to offer debt relief to Iraq.

"These are all tangible demonstrations of Saudi support for Iraq," said State Department spokesman Sean McCormack.

Egypt, as host of the meetings, has sought not to play up expectations about their outcome. "This is not a conference that will end up resolving all the problems of Iraq or provide a magic formula," said Egypt's ambassador to the United States, Nabil Fahmy.