US, EU and Arab officials meet on Iran

Participant in 1st meeting of its kind says Arabs worried about Iran gaining clout in Middle East.

By TOVAH LAZAROFF, AP
Rice quartet sharm 248 88 ap (photo credit: AP)
Rice quartet sharm 248 88 ap
(photo credit: AP)
Senior US and European officials met in Sharm e-Sheikh on Sunday with several Arab leaders who are worried about the international community negotiating an agreement with Iran that would give the Islamic Republic more power in the Middle East, a US official who participated in the talks said. US President-elect Barack Obama has said he is open to holding talks with Teheran on its nuclear program. Israel was involved in Sunday's meeting, but not directly, according to a spokesman for Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni. "There is a concern in the international community about what would happen with Iran under the new [US] administration," the spokes-man said. He also said diplomats were worried that the US might establish an interest section in Teheran, a move that has been rumored to take place after the American elections. An interest section is a small US government office that would deal with low level matters such as visas and cultural issues. The foreign ministers of Bahrain, Jordan, Egypt, Morocco and the United Arab Emirates indicated in Sharm e-Sheikh that they were concerned about what Obama would be willing to offer Iran in a deal. Obama's statement at his first post-election press conference on Friday that a nuclear Iran was unacceptable did not alleviate their fears. US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, who attended the meeting along with European Union foreign policy chief Javier Solana and French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner, assured the Arab ministers that Washington would not offer Teheran greater influence in the Middle East in exchange for nuclear concessions, a meeting participant said. "The United States' view is that Iran should not gain a privileged role in the region," the meeting participant quoted Rice as saying during the discussions, which were held on the sidelines of a meeting on Israeli-Palestinian peace in the Sinai resort town of Sharm e-Sheikh. The Arab foreign ministers were most concerned about Iranian influence in Lebanon, Syria, Iraq and other areas of the Gulf, the meeting participant said. Rice's assurances may mean little to Arab officials since she is not able to speak for the incoming administration.