Rice Not Ruling Out Iran Encounter

April 29, 2007 — -- On the eve of the Sharm el-Sheikh international conference on Iraq, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said today that she will not rule out meeting with the Iranian foreign minister.

"I will not rule out that we may encounter one another," Rice told George Stephanopoulos on ABC's "This Week."

She also emphasized that the focus of the Sharm el-Sheikh meeting will be on Iraq, not Iran.

Rice also indicated that she would not comply with a subpoena issued by Rep. Henry Waxman of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee. She said compelling White House staff to testify is a separation of powers issue, adding that it is Waxman's "prerogative" to find her in contempt if she refuses to comply.

"We're talking about something here that has been investigated and examined and talked about, and where, I think, if people look at the record, they will see that the answers are there," Rice said.

The purpose of the subpoena is to get Rice to testify about possible intelligence failures leading up to the war in Iraq. Rice did express regret that the 16 words falsely implicating a uranium deal between Iraq and Niger were included in the a presidential State of the Union address.

"I feel responsibility for the fact that something got in the president's speech that, in retrospect, probably shouldn't have." Rice said. "But the fact of the matter is we all thought at the time that it was in the State of the Union that it was a credible claim."

When asked about former CIA Director George Tenet's recent allegation that the White House never had a serious debate over whether Iraq posed an "imminent threat" to the United States, Rice did not answer directly.

"This was a threat that needed to be dealt with, but it was the totality of the picture against Saddam Hussein that led the president to the decision that he made," Rice said.

Rice reiterated that President Bush will veto the current emergency funding bill passed by Congress that calls for troop withdrawal by October. When asked about imposing benchmarks in the funding legislation, Rice suggested it could interfere with the efforts of General Petraeus and troops on the ground.

"What we don't want to do, George, is to tie our own hands so that we cannot act creatively and flexibly to support the very policies in Iraq that we're trying to enforce," Rice said.