[Repost]
One should feel nothing but sorry for Powel ending up sitting next to
Kharazi over diner. Kharazi doesn't make sense even when he speaks in
Farsi, never mind having to articulate in English a reason why Americans
shouldn't "murder" all those turkeys for their Thanks Giving Day! :))
http://www.reuters.co.uk/newsPackageArticle.jhtml?type=worldNews&storyID=625672§ion=news
By Saul Hudson
SHARM EL-SHEIKH, Egypt (Reuters) - U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell has
had "polite dinner conversation" seated alongside his Iranian counterpart in
the most extensive, high-level contact between the countries in years.
Iran and the United States, which are locked in a crisis over Tehran's
nuclear programme, do not have diplomatic relations but occasionally over the
past few years their senior envoys have crossed paths at international
meetings.
The Bush administration has been under pressure from many in the U.S. foreign
policy establishment to begin a dialogue with Tehran but it has been divided
over whether and to what degree it might reach out.
"During the course of dinner the secretary and the Iranian foreign minister
engaged in polite dinner conversation," said a senior State Department
official, who asked not to be named.
Substantive issues such as the nuclear crisis and Iraq are not considered
"polite conversation", he added on Monday.
The Egyptians, hosts of the international conference, arranged the seating at
a first-night dinner for countries' top representatives, putting Powell
between the Iranian, Kamal Kharrazi, and Iraqi Foreign Minister Hoshiyar
Zebari, the official said.
It was not clear if Powell knew before the meal who would be at his elbow for
what would his most extensive encounter with an Iranian as the top U.S.
diplomat.
In November 2001, Powell took the opportunity of a post-September 11 meeting
on Afghanistan to shake hands with Kharrazi at the United Nations in New
York.
Powell has since attended two international donor meetings attended by
Iranian diplomats, according to U.S. officials.
Any gesture towards Iran at the Iraq meeting would be modest, U.S. officials
said before the meeting.
TWO DECADES
The United States has not had formal diplomatic relations with the Islamic
republic since a hostage crisis more than two decades ago. It has had only
intermittent contacts since then, despite Tehran's growing ability to thwart
some of Washington's major objectives, such as stability in Iraq.
In the days leading up to the conference in the Red Sea resort of Sharm
el-Sheikh, Powell played down the possibility of a meeting to discuss
bilateral issues. He also angered Iran with new accusations that it was
seeking to adapt its missiles to carry a nuclear warhead.
But Powell, whose cautious support of European nuclear negotiations with Iran
faces opposition from some Bush administration hawks, noted there would be
conference social events and that he was "not a discourteous man".
The encounter came on the same day as Iran suspended sensitive nuclear
activities that could be used to make a bomb in a move likely to thwart U.S.
efforts to report it to the U.N. Security Council for possible sanctions.
The United States accuses oil-rich Iran of pursuing a nuclear bomb and has
vowed to stop it achieving that goal. Iran says its nuclear programme is
peaceful and only to generate power.
On Tuesday, the second and final day of the conference, Powell also plans to
hold a bilateral meeting with his counterpart from Syria, another country
Washington has strained ties with.
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