U.S. and Iranian officials meet at Iraq talks

By Mariam Karouny and Sue Pleming

SHARM EL-SHEIKH, Egypt (Reuters) - Senior U.S. and Iranian officials met at a crucial international conference on Iraq on Friday but mediators failed to arrange a meeting at a higher level between the two old foes.

The meeting in the Egyptian resort of Sharm el-Sheikh was another step away from the Bush administration's longstanding policy of avoiding contact with governments which actively oppose its policies in the Middle East.

U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice met Syrian Foreign Minister Walid al-Moualem in Sharm el-Sheikh on Thursday -- the first contact at this level in more than two years.

Rice, whose country broke off diplomatic relations with Iran in 1980 when Iranian students held 52 U.S. citizens hostage, said that if she had had the chance she would also have met Iranian Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki.

"The opportunity simply didn't arise for the foreign minister of Iran and me to meet... I would have taken that opportunity," she told a news conference.

"But our officials did ... have an opportunity to exchange views about the substance of this meeting, which is how to help Iraq be more secure," she added.

The U.S. ambassador to Iraq, Ryan Crocker, played down the meeting, saying he spent just three minutes discussing Iraq with Iranian Deputy Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi.

The Iraqi government, which depends on U.S. military support but also has close ties with Shi'ite Iran, had pressed for a Rice-Mottaki meeting but the Iranians were cool to the idea.