America and Iran could make history today with the first talks between senior officials for nearly three decades.

But as Condoleezza Rice, the US Secretary of State, and her Iranian counterpart Manouchehr Mottaki arrived in Egypt for talks on Iraq, there was precious little evidence that the two sides were prepared to bury their differences.

The two-day meeting in Sharm el-Sheikh is intended to help the beleaguered Government in Baghdad. Representatives from countries on the UN Security Council and members of the G8 group of leading industrialised nations will be asked to renew economic commitments for Iraq’s recovery. The other key participants are Iraq’s six neighbours. Iran and Syria, who have been accused of supporting insurgent groups in Iraq, will be urged to crack down on cross-border activity.

The Iraqis, in turn, will be asked to work harder to incorporate the Sunni community in government.

But the most important talks may well take place in bilateral meetings on the fringes, where it is hoped that America and Iran will sit down face-to-face for the first time since the Iranian revolution in 1979.

“If we encounter each other then I am certainly planning to be polite and see what that encounter brings,” said Dr Rice, who met her Iranian counterpart last September at the UN.

She said that talks would concentrate on Iraq but that she was open to broaden out dialogue to include Iran’s nuclear programme. “I think I can handle any question that is asked of me,” she said. But she cautioned against “overreaching expectations” of the meetings, a point highlighted by Tehran’s hesitation. The Iranians confirmed only last weekend that they would attend the gathering, and Mr Mottaki said yesterday that he had yet to decide whether to meet Dr Rice.

In Iran, President Ahmadenijad kept up the rhetoric against Washington, demanding in a speech that the US get out of Iraq and vowing not to “yield an inch” over his country’s controversial nuclear programme.

Arab diplomats had better hopes for progress from a planned meeting between Dr Rice and Walid Moualem, the Syrian Foreign Minister. Washington curtailed contacts with Damascus after the assassination in Beirut of Rafik Hariri, the former Lebanese Prime Minister, which was blamed by many on Syrian agents.If the US does resume dialogue with Iran and Syria it will mark a major climbdown: the Iraq Study Group recommended last year that America open talks with Tehran and Damascus, but the proposal was rejected by President Bush.

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