US Doesn't Object to Iran Attending Iraq Rebuilding Conf

Dow Jones Newswires:

The U.S. has no objection to Iran's inclusion in a U.S.- sponsored international conference on Iraq reconstruction, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice says. READ MORE

"We want Iran and Iraq to have good, neighborly, transparent relations, and to the degree that this serves that cause, we're all for it," Rice said Thursday.

The U.S. didn't invite Iran, Iraq's eastern neighbor, to the June 22 session in Brussels, as became awkwardly clear at a news conference with European diplomats at the State Department.

The U.S. is hosting the conference with the European Union and Iraq. Rice announced plans for the conference during a visit to Iraq last month, and the State Department released details of the conference this week. Iran's possible participation hadn't been mentioned until a reporter asked about it Thursday.

"Luxembourg has the presidency" of the European Union, said Luxembourg's foreign minister, Jean Asselborn. "Luxembourg has relations with Iran. Iran are invited."

Asselborn interjected after Rice didn't respond directly to the question.

Instead, she ticked off U.S. and international complaints about Iran, including allegations that Iran supports terrorists, thwarts Middle East peace efforts and might be developing a nuclear weapon.

"We don't have relations with Iran. Everybody understands that. And we have our differences with Iran," Rice said.

The U.S. has lacked diplomatic relations with Iran since Iranian students seized the U.S. Embassy in Tehran in 1979. It isn't clear whether Iran will attend the one-day Brussels conference.

Separately, Rice said the U.S. has a heavy joint agenda with Europe that shouldn't be affected by the European Union's stumble this week over ratification of a constitution. Voters in France and the Netherlands rejected the proposed constitution, which would have streamlined operations of the 25- member union.

"We understand that this has been a difficult period, and that there will be some period of reflection going forward, but we continue to hope for an outward- looking Europe, not an inward-looking one," Rice said.

E.U. External Relations Commissioner Benita Ferrero-Waldner tried to be reassuring. A united Europe will continue to work alongside the U.S. to promote peace between Israel and the Palestinians and on Iraq, she said.

"We are able to work with you as well today as we did yesterday. And some people have suggested we will now be too absorbed in our own crisis to pursue our external policies. I promise you, this will not be the case."

Rice also offered a skeptical view about Iranian presidential elections scheduled this month. Iran's hard-line watchdog Guardian Council has severely limited the number of candidates who can participate, although it recently bowed to pressure and allowed two reformist candidates to run.

"I mean, it's...not a very pretty picture of this election, quote-unquote, that is going to take place in a couple of weeks when candidates have been summarily dismissed by an unelected Guardian Council," Rice said.

Iran shares a long border with Iraq and the two nations fought a lengthy war in the 1980s. The countries share many historical, religious and cultural bonds, however, and some members of Iraq's new government have old ties to Iran.

The U.S. has said little in public about Iranian influence over Iraq since the successful Iraqi elections in January, but Rice brought it up Thursday. ...