Hopes that an international conference on Iraq would prompt a thaw in American-Iranian ties faded Friday when Tehran accused Washington of terrorism.
It was hoped that US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice could hold historic talks with her Iranian counterpart Manouchehr Mottaki. But at a meeting meant to enhance international cooperation on Iraq security, Mottaki described American forces as "terrorists" and lashed out at Washington over the continued detention of Iranian officials seized in January.
"To create a safe haven for those terrorists who try to turn Iraqi territory into a base for attacking Iraq's neighbours should be condemned," the Iranian foreign minister said.
"Mr Mottaki was referring to countries which, like the United States, carry out acts of terrorism in Iraq," a spokesman for the Iranian delegation at the conference told AFP. "When the United States arrests five Iranian diplomats in Iraq, it is an act of terrorism," he said.
Iranian and US officials nevertheless met Friday on the sidelines of the security talks. "Today, there was meeting on the sidelines of the conference, at an expert level not a ministerial one, between the American side and the Iranian side," Iraqi Foreign Minister Hoshyar Zebari told a news conference.
