Tehran stance "very negative" on Iraq - US's Gates
Source: Reuters
BRUSSELS, Jan 15 (Reuters) - U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates accused Iran on Monday of doing nothing to help the United States in Iraq, saying Washington could only engage with Tehran if it showed it was ready to be constructive. Gates, making a first visit to NATO headquarters in Brussels after taking over from Donald Rumsfeld last month, said the Iranians "clearly believe that we are tied down in Iraq, that they have the initiative". "They're doing nothing to be constructive in Iraq at this point. In addition, they have supported Hezbollah's efforts to create a new conflict in Lebanon," he told a news conference after talks with NATO Secretary-General Jaap de Hoop Scheffer. "And so the Iranians are acting in a very negative way in many respects. My view is that when the Iranians are prepared to play a constructive role in dealing with some of these problems, then there might be opportunities for engagement," he said. Tehran denies backing the insurgency in Iraq and blames U.S. troops for the violence and for stoking tensions between Iraq's Shi'ite and Sunni Muslims. It also denies Western accusations that it armed and financed Lebanon's Hezbollah guerrillas during a 34-day war last year with Israel, insisting it merely provided the group with political and moral succour. The bipartisan Iraq Study Group called last year for Washington to deal directly with Syria and Iran, with whom it broke off ties in 1979, to help rein in violence in Iraq. But Tehran's reaction has been cautious and U.S. officials including Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice have insisted Iran must first suspend uranium enrichment as part of a nuclear programme that the West suspects is aimed at securing the bomb. Iran says its programme is to generate energy.
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