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| Thursday, 25 November 2004 |
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Powell: US open to eventually restoring ties with Iran SHARM EL-SHEIKH, Egypt, Wednesday (Reuters) Outgoing U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell signalled Washington was open to one day re-establishing diplomatic ties with Iran after the countries held their most sustained, high-level contact in years. Powell, who spoke with his Iranian counterpart at an international conference dinner, said the United States could "in due course" hold direct talks and review relations if Tehran addressed concerns over its terrorism links and nuclear programmes. The remarks were sure to fuel speculation over the prospects for a thaw in relations as the administration of President George W. Bush debates whether to engage or confront a country it bracketed in "an axis of evil" with North Korea and pre-war Iraq. Asked if the United States could one day consider restoring ties with Iran, Powell, a sometimes lonesome dove in Bush's cabinet, said: "In due course." "It is not in the best interests of international relations for there to be permanent enmity or animosity between two states," he said in an interview with U.S. television network ABC. In recent years, the United States and Iran have quietly held occasional, low-level talks, under international auspices, about Iraq and Afghanistan. Powell said he was not predicting formal U.S.-Iranian talks, but echoed his earlier phrase. "In due course, it might turn out to be the case," he said. Powell, whom Iran dismissed as a lame duck with no policymaking clout, sat alongside Foreign Minister Kamal Kharrazi on Monday night. According to both sides, they made small talk in English without touching on substantive diplomatic issues such as the nuclear crisis. The two men had previously shared little more than a handshake in 2001. But neither objected to the symbolic seating arranged by Egypt, the host of the conference on Iraq. |
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