By Michael R. Gordon
Singapore -- Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld told a gathering of defense experts Saturday that Iran was "one of the leading terrorist nations in the world."
Rumsfeld also questioned why Russia and China would allow Iran to participate in the Shanghai Cooperation Organization, a regional organization that includes Russia, China and Central Asian nations.
Iran has observer status in the group, and the Iranian president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, is expected to attend a summit meeting that the organization is holding in Shanghai this month.
"It strikes me as ... strange that one would want to bring into an organization that says it is against terrorism one of the leading terrorist nations in the world: Iran," Rumsfeld said.
His pointed comments were made at an important moment in U.S. diplomacy.
Last week, the Bush administration reversed a refusal to hold direct talks with Iran that had lasted decades. The administration said it was willing to join European allies in negotiations over Iran's nuclear program if Tehran first suspended its efforts to enrich uranium.
At the same time, Washington has been seeking Russian and Chinese cooperation in fashioning a common negotiating strategy. Both nations are members of the U.N. Security Council, which the United States would like to impose punitive measures if Iran does not accept a package of incentives and suspend its nuclear enrichment activities.
In his comments Saturday, Rumsfeld said that President Bush had presented Iran with the opportunity to defuse the confrontation over its nuclear program through diplomacy and that more time was needed to assess the prospects for a diplomatic settlement.
"The information has just been communicated to them, and it seems to me the appropriate thing now to do is to wait and see which path the Iranian government will take," he added.
But he painted a dark picture of Iran, saying that it had a long history of "being engaged in terrorist activities" and, thus, was not an appropriate participant in the Shanghai Cooperation Organization. The Russian- and Chinese-dominated organization was established in 2001 and one of its stated goals is to counter separatist and terrorist groups.
Singapore's prime minister, Lee Hsien Loong, said Friday that Iran's role in the Shanghai organization was a way for Russia and China to demonstrate their influence. Iran, he said, had applied to upgrade its presence to full-fledged member. By agreeing to consider this, he said, "Russia and China have reminded the West of their combined influence on world-turning events."
India, which also has observer status in the organization, said Iran's participation in the upcoming summit as an observer was a matter for Iran to decide. "Who am I to decide on their behalf?" said the Indian defense minister, Pranab Mukherjee.
One of the main themes in Rumsfeld's address here was the need for more inclusive institutions.
The United States was concerned last year when the Association of South East Asian Nations held a meeting which China, Korea and Japan attended but which excluded the United States.
He repeated a theme from last year's address -- that China needed to be open about how much it was spending on its military and what the funds were being used for.
Russia, he said, had sought "to constrain the independence and freedom of action of some of their neighboring countries." Defense officials said this was a reference to the pressure that Moscow has put on Central Asian nations to curtail military ties with the United States as well as to Russia's difficult relationship with Georgia and Ukraine.
Rumsfeld's presentation and that of other defense officials were made at an annual confer
