By TARIQ KHONJI
AMERICAN and Iranian officials have come face-to-face at a major conference that ended in Bahrain yesterday.
Although talks were not bilateral, officials from both sides took part in breakout sessions over the course of the three-day International Institute for Strategic Studies (IISS) Manama Dialogue at the Ritz-Carlton-Bahrain Hotel and Spa.
The two countries are involved in a standoff over Iran's nuclear programme, which the US is opposed to.
However, IISS director-general and chief executive Dr John Chipman said Iran and the US had expressed their points of view to each other during the sessions, which were not open to the media.
He added that even though the US official delegation didn't include members of the current US administration, he believed the messages would be passed on to senior officials.
"I cannot speculate that any consensus was reached, but what I can say is that they both spoke," he said.
Dr Chipman said the IISS has no agenda of its own in organising this event - other than to provide a forum for the major players to meet.
"Another significant theme of the event is that it allowed the GCC countries to express their concern over the Iranian nuclear issue, showing that it isn't only a view from the West," he continued.
Dr Chipman said that "dozens and dozens" of bilateral meetings had also taken place on the sidelines of the main event and that he had very little idea about which countries had met which.
He also said that US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and others had previously confirmed their attendance, but did not make it because of current political events taking place in Washington, DC.
He was speaking at a Press conference at the end of the meeting, which brought together all elements of the national security establishments from the countries in the region - namely Bahrain, Kuwait, Iran, Iraq, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, the UAE and Yemen. They were joined by the key external powers Australia, China, France, Germany, Japan, India, Pakistan, Russia, Turkey, Singapore, the UK and the US.
