Tehran senses 'softer tone' from US officials

Tehran: The United States is showing signs of softening its attitude towards Iran, an Iranian official said yesterday, but added that Tehran had not yet decided to attend a meeting on Iraq with senior US officials.

Foreign Ministry spokesman Mohammad Ali Hosseini said Iran would decide after talks this week with Iraq's foreign minister whether it would take part in an international conference next month to discuss the conflict in neighbouring Iraq.

Egypt will host the high-level meeting of a group of countries that includes Syria, Turkey and the United States in the first week of May to discuss how to stop the violence in Iraq. The conference is a follow-up to one in Baghdad in March.

An Iranian newspaper reported earlier this month that Iran might not attend if US forces do not release five Iranians they are holding in Iraq.

Zebari meeting

But Hosseini said Iran had not linked the meeting with other issues. "About participating or not participating, or the level of participation, this is still under examination," he told a regular briefing.

Iranian Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki would hold talks with his Iraqi counterpart Hoshiyar Zebari this week, he said.

"After that we will announce our final decision," Hosseini said. "The problem is the place and the context of the meeting," he added without elaborating.

The US State Department has said Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice will go to the meeting at the Red Sea resort of Sharm Al Shaikh and is open to direct talks with Iran over Iraq.

Washington has not had formal diplomatic relations with Iran since 1980, when it cut ties after the Iranian Islamic revolution and the holding of US hostages.

Hosseini suggested the United States was changing its stance towards Iran, saying in a response to a question:

"I agree with you on the softer tone from Miss Rice and in some American officials' statements ... it will be good if we witness this change in their behaviour."

Hosseini said he saw positive signs regarding the five Iranians held in Iraq, who Tehran says are diplomats but Washington accuses of links to Iran's elite Revolutionary Guards and of backing Iraqi militants.