The United States says it has no objections to Iran's inclusion in a U.S.-sponsored international conference on Iraqi reconstruction.
U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice spoke in Washington after a meeting with European Union ministers on 2nd June where she said: ‘It's not a problem from our point of view that they are invited to this conference. We do not have relations with Iran, and we have said, and I think I said when I was in Iraq, that we want Iran and Iraq to have good, neighbourly and transparent relations. And to the degree that this serves that cause, we're all for it." The United States is co-sponsoring the June 22 conference in Brussels with the European Union and Iraq. The U.S. did not invite Iran to the meeting. But Jean Asselborn, the foreign minister of Luxembourg, who has the rotating EU presidency, emphasized that Luxembourg, has relations with Iran. He said Tehran is invited to the meeting.
While saying she did not object to Iran's participation, Rice also renewed U.S. criticisms of Iran., including actions by the unelected Guardian Council to limit the number of candidates who can participate in the country's June 17 presidential election. She said: "It's a very - 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 accused the Islamic Republic of supporting militants trying to derail the Middle East peace talks, and of seeking to develop nuclear weapons, saying Iranian foreign policy is "out of step" with developments in the Middle East.
A spokesman for Iran's foreign ministry, Hamid Reza Asefi, criticized Rice's comments and said Tehran is "not moving in line with America's imposed changes in the region." He said people in the region have enough political awareness to determine their own fate.
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