US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said Wednesday she will attend an international conference in Kuwait in April to promote Iraq's security that involves Iran and other neighbours. "I have just accepted the invitation of the Kuwaiti government to hold the third Iraqi neighbours conference toward the end of April," Rice told US Senators.
Iran said last month it would take part in a conference of Middle East and Western powers to be held in Kuwait in April to debate security in war-ravaged Iraq. The conference, which was announced at the last such meeting in Istanbul in November, will be attended by Iraq's neighbours, UN Security Council permanent members including the United States and other G8 members. Tehran is vehemently against the US military presence in neighbouring Iraq and has repeatedly asked for a troop withdrawal.
The announcement comes as tensions increase between Tehran and Washington over Iran's nuclear ambitions and following a charged showdown between the US warships and Iranian boats in the Strait of Hormuz. US President George W. Bush, who finished a tour of the Middle East in January, has called on his Arab allies to unite against Iran, saying that Tehran's role in "fomenting violence" in Iraq has been exposed.