05/04/2006 (Agence Europe) - Following his meeting with US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice in Washington, German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier criticised the United States for giving no indication of wanting to conduct, alongside US-Iranian discussions on Iranian interference in Iraq, direct negotiations with Tehran on the nuclear issue. “Based on information appearing to report contact between the American ambassador in Baghdad with Iranian leaders over the situation in Iraq, I recommended that these discussions should not be restricted to Iraq, but widened to include one of the most pressing problems facing us: suspicions that Iran … is working on a secret nuclear weapons programme,” Mr Steinmeier told the press before his meeting with Miss Rice.

Plenary session of the European Parliament