TEHRAN, April 29 (Reuters) - Iran will announce later on Sunday whether it will attend an international meeting in Egypt next month to discuss the situation in Iraq, Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki was quoted as saying.

Egypt will host the high-level meeting of a group of countries that includes Syria, Turkey and the United States in the first week of May to discuss how to stop the violence in Iraq. The conference is a follow-up to one in Baghdad in March.

"Today the fate of the issue will become clear and we will announce our decision," Mottaki told reporters, the ISNA news agency reported.

The U.S. State Department has said U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice will take part in the conference in the Red Sea resort of Sharm el-Sheikh and is open to direct talks with Iran over Iraq.

An Iranian newspaper reported earlier this month that Iran might not attend if U.S. forces did not release five Iranians they are holding in Iraq.

Iran is at odds with the West over its nuclear programme.

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