The United States cautiously opened a previously locked door on talks with Syria and Iran yesterday, two pariah states that it blames for fomenting terrorism in the Middle East.

At an international conference on Iraq, Condoleezza Rice, the Secretary of State, had a 30-minute meeting with her Syrian counterpart – the first such talks at this level in more than two years – and then “exchanged pleasantries” with Iran’s Foreign Minister.

The contact, particularly with Syria, reverses President Bush’s longstanding policy of isolating both countries. In February he rejected calls from both the independent Iraq Study Group and allies such as Tony Blair for greater diplomatic engagement. Mr Bush said that if Syria and Iran were not committed to beating terrorism, “then they shouldn't bother to show up” at any proposed talks on Iraq or the Middle East.

At yesterday’s conference, in the Egyptian Red Sea resort of Sharm el-Sheikh, Syria’s Foreign Minister, Walid al-Moualem, not only turned up but also held lengthy talks with Dr Rice in a private room on the sidelines of the conference. “The meeting was frank and constructive. We discussed the situation in Iraq and how to achieve stability,” Mr Moualem said afterwards. “I didn’t lecture him and he didn’t lecture me,” reported Dr Rice. “I would say it was professional. It was businesslike.”

The Bush Administration has accused Syria of letting foreign insurgent fighters enter Iraq through its notoriously porous border and has implicated its Government in the murder of the Lebanese Prime Minister, Rafik Hariri, in 2005 – a charge Damascus denies.

In recent days, however, there has been an apparent effort to prepare for the diplomatic shift by offering rare praise for Syria taking “positive steps” on the border. In Baghdad, US General William Caldwell said: “There has been some movement by the Syrians . . . there has been a reduction in the flow of foreign fighters into Iraq.” In Damascus, Syrian security forces claimed to have killed scores of suspected Islamist militants – many of them linked to al-Qaeda – in a crackdown that has escalated over recent weeks.

Dr Rice said later that she was not seeking similar direct talks with Iran, after signals from Tehran that some elements of the regime were unhappy at such a prospect. Instead, a strange diplomatic dance ensued in Sharm el-Sheikh, with neither the US nor Iran willing to make the first move. Dr Rice and Manouchehr Mottaki, the Iranian Foreign Minister, exchanged pleasantries during lunch at which they sat at the same table, without apparently discussing politics.

“They said, ‘Hello’. That’s about it,” said Sean McCormack, a US State Department spokesman , adding: “It was not about substance.”

In his speech yesterday Mr Mottaki blamed Iraq’s turmoil on “the flawed policies of the occupying powers” – an apparent reference to the US.

Iraq has offered to mediate between the two countries, with Nouri al-Maliki, the Prime Minister, said to have told Ms Rice that “a rapprochement must take place”.

The bilateral talks overshadowed the main purpose of the conference, to galvanise foreign assistance for Iraq’s beleaguered Government. Ban Ki Moon, the United Nations Secretary-General, said that countries attending the meeting had promised to write off more than $30 billion (£15 billion) in debt.

Troubled past

1967 Relations severed after Arab nations’ Six-Day War with Israel

1974 Diplomats return after Syria and Israel agree forces’ disengagement

1979 First US list of state sponsors of terrorism includes Syria; it has remained on it ever since

1986 US Ambassador withdrawn over concerns about Syrian terrorist involvement. Returns a year later after Syria assists in release of US hostage

1991, 2000 US and Syrian presidents meet for Middle East peace talks

2005 Relations deteriorate after murder of former Lebanese Prime Minister, Rafik Hariri, in which Syria is implicated

2006 Armed militants attack US Embassy in Damascus; Syrian security forces kill three and seriously injure the other

Source: US State Department

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