Iran is prepared to settle Iraqi refugees temporarily along its border, said Kharrazi

WASHINGTON, February 8 (IslamOnline & News Agencies) – Under a veil of secrecy, U.S. officials met with Iranian diplomats in an unidentified European country last month, in what is seen as a U.S. attempt to neutralize Tehran before its looming invasion of Iraq, said a leading U.S. newspaper Saturday, February 8.

Carrying a war message, the Bush administration officials also asked Iran for a humanitarian help in search-and-rescue missions for downed U.S. aircrews and further requested that Iranian government deny haven to fleeing Iraqis who might try to cross into Iran and regroup against a U.S.-supported government in Baghdad, reported the Washington Post.

U.S. officials report that signals from Tehran have been encouraging, despite Iranian Foreign Minister Kamal Kharrazi's statements that "Iran is basically against war and is not going to support either side."

A senior Bush administration official said the White House hopes Iranians "will stay out of the way" if U.S.-led forces topple Iraqi President Saddam Hussein in favor of a pro-Western government.

U.S. officials, in addition, reassured the Iranians that a prospective war would not target them, the Post quoted a U.S. official as saying.

The Bush administration also cited its acceptance of Tehran-based Shiite Muslim leaders among the Iraqi opposition.

"We wanted to make clear to them that, just as we cooperated with them in Afghanistan, we'll cooperate with them in Iraq. We're able and willing to cooperate in Iraq," the official briefed on last month's mission.

He added that the administration and the Iranians have been communicating regularly through partners in Europe and the Gulf.

The U.S.-Iran meeting, which involved two U.S. officials steeped in the region's politics and history, coincided with a larger gathering on the future of Afghanistan that included U.S. and Iranian delegations.

The European country in which the meeting was held could not be learned. The names of the U.S. envoys were withheld from publication at the request of U.S. officials.

The rare meeting, in effect, signal the painstaking efforts exerted by Washington in rallying up support in the Gulf for its potential war against Iraq.

Although U.S. President George W. Bush said in his last month's State of the Union address that the Iranian government "represses its people, pursues weapons of mass destruction and supports terror," U.S. officials concluded that Iran should not be ignored in preparations for a potential conflict along its 904-mile border with Iraq.

"They don't want to be shut out," U.S. officials said.

Analysts said the Iranians bear feelings of hatred towards Saddam and his regime and cannot forget the devastating eight-year war with Iraq.

Yet, great ambivalence exists about the prospect of a new government next door endorsed by the United States.

Analysts also believe Iran has a vested interest in the outcome of any conflict in Iraq, especially that Tehran has long supported Muslim Shiite exiles from Iraq who intend to seek power if Hussein falls.

They further said that Iran would seek influence in the Shiite southern Iraq and the central government should a war break out.

In London this week, Kharrazi said a war would have repercussions in Iran but expressed Iran’s readiness to settle Iraqi refugees temporarily along its border.

After talks in London on Thursday, February 6, with his U.K counterpart Jack Straw and U.K. Prime Minister Tony Blair, Kharrazi said there were suspicions in the Islamic world about the real intention behind war - whether it was a "question of Saddam Hussein and the Iraqi regime or a question of the whole Middle East and the Islamic world?"

U.S. relations with Iran, troubled since the Iranian Islamic revolution nearly 25 years ago, took a still more difficult turn when Bush charged that Iran, Iraq and North Korea "constitute an axis of evil, arming to threaten the peace of the world."

Later last year, Bush issued a statement sharply critical of Iran's conservative leadership and supportive of pro-democracy protesters.