EGYPT: Britain's foreign secretary Margaret Beckett says Iran not intent on discussing Iraq's future

Record ID: 376662

  • Title: EGYPT: Britain's foreign secretary Margaret Beckett says Iran not intent on discussing Iraq's future
  • Date: 5th May 2007
  • Summary: ARAB LEAGUE SECRETARY GENERAL AMR MOUSSA SITTING SURROUNDED BY JOURNALISTS, CAMERA AND MICROPHONES (SOUNDBITE) (English) ARAB LEAGUE SECRETARY GENERAL AMR MOUSSA SAYING: "It was clear today from the discussion that we need to stress the conciliation process and to support any policy that would rebuild Iraq as a state based on a constitution and on citizenship and away from
  • Embargoed: 20th May 2007 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Egypt
  • Country: Egypt
  • Topics: International Relations
  • Reuters ID: LVACE12VQVX7FUMFCLI8Q0F7DVYE
  • Story Text: British Foreign Secretary Margaret Beckett says talks she had with Iranian Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki on the sidelines of a conference on Iraq showed Iran was not intent on discussing Iraq's future. British Foreign Secretary Margaret Beckett said talks she held with Iranian Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki on the sidelines of a conference on Iraq on Thursday (May 3) showed Iran was not interested in the future welfare of Iraq.
    "The Iranian foreign minister seemed to be more concerned to talk about the past than to talk about the future, and everybody is more interested in the future for Iraq," Beckett said on Friday (May 4), the second day of the Iraq conference.
    Unlike its ally the United States, Britain has diplomatic relations with Iran and high-level contacts do take place.
    Beckett last spoke to Mottaki in March by telephone when she urged him to speed the release of 15 British military personnel captured by Iran.
    Tehran said the sailors had entered Iranian waters while Britain said they were in Iraq. They were freed after two weeks.
    Beckett and Mottaki were together at a meeting in the Egyptian Red Sea resort of Sharm el-Sheikh on an International Pact offering support to Iraqi institutions in return for political and economic reform.
    Amr Moussa, the head of the Arab League, said the Sharm el Sheikh conference stressed the need to bridge sectarian divides and strengthen civil life in war-torn Iraq.
    "It was clear today from the discussion that we need to stress the conciliation process and to support any policy that would rebuild Iraq as a state based on a constitution and on citizenship and away from sectarian strife or religious intolerance," he told journalists.
    The Sharm el Sheikh was called to discuss Iraqi border security, Iraqi refugees and political reconciliation between Iraqi factions and ethnic and religious communities.
    Baghdad is dependent on U.S. military support in its drive to halt a slide into all-out civil war by stamping out sectarian violence and defeating insurgents who draw support from the Sunni Arab minority once-dominant under Saddam Hussein.
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