The Number One Way to Buy Up Iraqi Dinar Quickly and Safely

The Number One Way to Buy Up Iraqi Dinar Quickly and Safely

Right now may be an excellent time to consider purchasing a foreign currency with a big upside for accumulating wealth. Do a bit of research on where you can purchase some excellent quality new Iraqi Dinar. Be sure it is current Iraqi Dinar, not the previous Saddam Hussein era notes. There are a great number of websites out there that would really like to sell you these old worthless notes, so be careful. There are some rules and regulations you will need to follow too, and you need to make certain that you are dealing with an honest and authentic dealer.

Many people are interested in purchasing these types of notes, and with great demand can also come great danger. Iraqi Dinar is extremely popular currently, so unscrupulous people are always searching for ways to print and sell fake money in order to make a great profit off of naive buyers. As a result, it is crucial that you do as much research as possible to protect against getting scammed by purchasing from the wrong person. The last thing you want to do is purchase your Iraqi money, sit on it for a few years and find out when you go to turn it in for your money that it is counterfeit and the scoundrel who sold it to you has left the country.

After you have made a decision to attain the New Iraqi Dinar and you have found someone you think you can trust my advice is that you trust them, but check and double check the Iraqi Dinar, very, very carefully. Try to choose a seller that can let you know that the money is real and that he uses a De La Rue currency counter to verify the bills for authenticity. All money has to be passed through this money counter in order to make sure the money is good. There are other currency machines that can detect counterfeits for Iraqi Dinar, but from what I hear the De La Rue machine is the top of the line. Interestingly, the De La Rue machine is released by the company that makes the Iraqi money. After you have come to a decision on a dealer I recommend you use a dealer where you can make your purchase with a credit card. That way if there's anything that goes wrong with your delivery you can dispute the charge with whatever credit card company you are making the purchase with. You may still get swindled even if you use a credit card, but a credit card organization will be very helpful in fighting the charges if the situation goes that far.

To learn more about safe dinar make sure to check out the buy dinar web site and blog.

Iraqi Dinar - C.I.A. Said to Use Outsiders to Put Bombs on Drones

How do I hire these guys? I have a neighbor who has this dog that just won't shut up!!!

Here Fido, Here boy...Hellfire missle!!!

C.I.A. Said to Use Outsiders to Put Bombs on Drones

By JAMES RISEN and MARK MAZZETTI
Published: August 20, 2009


WASHINGTON — From a secret division at its North Carolina headquarters, the company formerly known as Blackwater has assumed a role in Washington’s most important counterterrorism program: the use of remotely piloted drones to kill Al Qaeda’s leaders, according to government officials and current and former employees.


The division’s operations are carried out at hidden bases in Pakistan and Afghanistan, where the company’s contractors assemble and load Hellfire missiles and 500-pound laser-guided bombs on remotely piloted Predator aircraft, work previously performed by employees of the Central Intelligence Agency. They also provide security at the covert bases, the officials said.


The role of the company in the Predator program highlights the degree to which the C.I.A. now depends on outside contractors to perform some of the agency’s most important assignments. And it illustrates the resilience of Blackwater, now known as Xe (pronounced Zee) Services, though most people in and outside the company still refer to it as Blackwater. It has grown through government work, even as it attracted criticism and allegations of brutality in Iraq.


A spokesman for the C.I.A. declined to comment for this article.


The New York Times reported Thursday that the agency hired Blackwater in 2004 as part of a secret program to locate and assassinate top Qaeda operatives.


In interviews on Thursday, current and former government officials provided new details about Blackwater’s association with the assassination program, which began in 2004 not long after Porter J. Goss took over at the C.I.A. The officials said that the spy agency did not dispatch the Blackwater executives with a “license to kill.” Instead, it ordered the contractors to begin collecting information on the whereabouts of Al Qaeda’s leaders, carry out surveillance and train for possible missions.


“The actual pulling of a trigger in some ways is the easiest part, and the part that requires the least expertise,” said one government official familiar with the canceled C.I.A. program. “It’s everything that leads up to it that’s the meat of the issue.”


Any operation to capture or kill militants would have had to have been approved by the C.I.A. director and presented to the White House before it was carried out, the officials said. The agency’s current director, Leon E. Panetta, canceled the program and notified Congress of its existence in an emergency meeting in June.


The extent of Blackwater’s business dealings with the C.I.A. has largely been hidden, but its public contract with the State Department to provide private security to American diplomats in Iraq has generated intense scrutiny and controversy.


The company lost the job in Iraq this year, after Blackwater guards were involved in shootings in 2007 that left 17 Iraqis dead. It still has other, less prominent State Department work.


Five former Blackwater guards have been indicted in federal court on charges related to the 2007 episode.


A spokeswoman for Xe did not respond to a request for comment.


For its intelligence work, the company’s sprawling headquarters in North Carolina has a special division, known as Blackwater Select. The company’s first major arrangement with the C.I.A. was signed in 2002, with a contract to provide security for the agency’s new station in Kabul, Afghanistan. Blackwater employees assigned to the Predator bases receive training at Nellis Air Force Base in Nevada to learn how to load Hellfire missiles and laser-guided smart bombs on the drones, according to current and former employees, who asked not to be identified for fear of upsetting the company.


The C.I.A. has for several years operated Predator drones out of a remote base in Shamsi, Pakistan, but has secretly added a second site at an air base in Jalalabad, Afghanistan, several current and former government and company officials said. The existence of the Predator base in Jalalabad has not previously been reported.


Officials said the C.I.A. now conducted most of its Predator missile and bomb strikes on targets in the Afghanistan-Pakistan border region from the Jalalabad base, with drones landing or taking off almost hourly. The base in Pakistan is still in use. But officials said that the United States decided to open the Afghanistan operation in part because of the possibility that the Pakistani government, facing growing anti-American sentiment at home, might force the C.I.A. to close the one in Pakistan.


Blackwater is not involved in selecting targets or actual strikes. The targets are selected by the C.I.A., and employees at the agency’s headquarters in Langley, Va., pull the trigger remotely. Only a handful of the agency’s employees actually work at the Predator bases in Afghanistan and Pakistan, the current and former employees said.


They said that Blackwater’s direct role in these operations had sometimes led to disputes with the C.I.A. Sometimes when a Predator misses a target, agency employees accuse Blackwater of poor bomb assembly, they said. In one instance last year recounted by the employees, a 500-pound bomb dropped off a Predator before it hit the target, leading to a frantic search for the unexploded bomb in the remote Afghan-Pakistani border region. It was eventually found about 100 yards from the original target.


The role of contractors in intelligence work expanded after the Sept. 11 attacks, as spy agencies were forced to fill gaps created when their work forces were reduced during the 1990s, after the end of the cold war.


More than a quarter of the intelligence community’s current work force is made up of contractors, carrying out missions like intelligence collection and analysis and, until recently, interrogation of terrorist suspects.


“There are skills we don’t have in government that we may have an immediate requirement for,” Gen. Michael V. Hayden, who ran the C.I.A. from 2006 until early this year, said during a panel discussion on Thursday on the privatization of intelligence.


General Hayden, who succeeded Mr. Goss at the agency, acknowledged that the C.I.A. program continued under his watch, though it was not a priority. He said the program was never prominent during his time at the C.I.A., which was one reason he did not believe that he had to notify Congress. He said it did not involve outside contractors by the time he came in.


Senator Dianne Feinstein, the California Democrat who presides over the Senate Intelligence Committee, said the agency should have notified Congress in any event. “Every single intelligence operation and covert action must be briefed to the Congress,” she said. “If they are not, that is a violation of the law.”


Mark Landler contributed reporting.

Iraqi Dinar - International Criticism of Iranian Government Actions Grows

How will the events in Iran effect Iraq and by extension the Iraqi Dinar?


International Criticism of Iranian Government Actions Grows

By Michael Bowman Washington

22 June 2009

Demonstrators in Paris protest against outcome of the Iran's presidential election, 21 June 2009 International criticism of Iran's handling of a disputed presidential vote and subsequent protests is mounting, after Iranian media reported the arrest of former President Hashemi Rafsanjani's eldest daughter. German Chancellor Angela Merkel added her voice to a growing chorus of Western leaders demanding respect for civil liberties in Iran."Human rights and citizens' rights are inseparable, and that is why Germany stands behind the people, and peaceful demonstrations in Iran, who want to make use of their freedom of speech and who want to gather peacefully.

I, therefore, demand that Iran's leaders allow peaceful demonstrations, allow free reporting of events, stop the use of violence against demonstrators and free imprisoned people."Ms. Merkel urged a full recount of Iran's contested presidential vote. Official results showed President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad winning re-election in a landslide.

Iranian Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki denounced Western criticism as "treacherous" and "unjust," and accused foreign governments of fomenting unrest in his country. Responding, British Foreign Secretary David Miliband said he "categorically" rejects any suggestion that foreign countries are manipulating protesters in Iran.

Meanwhile, authorities in Tehran say they have arrested Faezeh Hashemi - the eldest daughter of former President Rafsanjani. Last week, Hashemi was seen addressing supporters of presidential candidate Mir Hossein Mousavi, who alleges massive fraud in the June 12 ballot and is calling for a new election.


Supporters of opposition leader Mir Hossien Mousavi set fire to a barricade as they hurl stones during a protest in Tehran, 20 June 2009Saturday saw clashes between demonstrators and security forces in the capital. Thousands rallied in Tehran, despite a warning by the country's supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, to stop demonstrations about the disputed election.

News organizations around the world have come to rely on reporting, photographs and video from ordinary Iranian citizens, as foreign journalists have been expelled from the country or confined to their hotels.Scores of demonstrations have been mounted around the world in support of protesters in Iran.

Many of those taking part have relatives in the country."They're killing our kids over there," said one Iranian demonstrator in California. "So I don't know. We can't do anything else. Just I believe this is the most [i.e., best] thing that we can do. And anytime that they need us, we are going to be there for them."On Saturday, President Barack Obama issued his strongest statement to date on the Iranian situation. He called on the Iranian government "to stop all violent and unjust actions against its own people" and said the United States "stands by all who seek to exercise" the universal rights to assemble and speak freely.

Iraqi Dinar-All Is Quiet Are You Buying Iraqi Dinar?

So Are You Buying Iraqi Dinar? Let's Hear From You!

Excerpt From Article On Thriving Dinar Trade In Japan.

Saturday, May 9, 2009
Speculators turn to shaky Iraqi currency
By MINORU MATSUTANI
Staff writer

...Customers are buying into Iraq for several reasons, including the expectation of economic recovery, a desire to help the economy and the dream of a more than 500-fold capital gain. With a short list of competitors in the dinar exchange market, Rise International and other exchange houses running a similar business are thriving.

"When I heard about the dinar, I thought I would buy it for the same reason I buy lottery tickets," said Katsunori Arai, 50, who bought seven 25,000 dinar bills from Rise International. "People are suffering there, so I am hoping the Iraqi economy will recover."...

...The currency is a minor one, the political situation there is unstable, and we don't get much information about Iraq. Above all, buying for quadruple the trading rate is too much," Shieida said. "If you buy it, it should be with money you won't regret losing."

Motohiro Ono of the Middle East Research Institute of Japan said the political, economic and security situation in Iraq is clearly better than right before the U.S.-led invasion in 2003, and thus the current dinar level is very low.

However, the stability is based largely on the security situation, and it may become unstable again as the U.S. withdraws its forces, who, because they are neutral, are probably better at suppressing tribal conflicts than local soldiers hired by the Iraqi government, he said.
If conflicts break out, the locals may join their tribes instead of fulfilling their governmental duties of suppressing conflicts, he said.

On the macroeconomic front, Iraq has been keeping prices of goods stable, compared with the figures in the 1990s.

The inflation rate in Iraq fluctuated between minus 8 percent and 8 percent from January 2007 to this March, and the dinar has been gradually strengthening against the dollar, from about 1,300 dinar per dollar to about 1,170 dinar in the same period, according to the Central Bank of Iraq.

The dinar was worth $3.20 before the U.N. embargo that followed Iraq's 1990 invasion of Kuwait, according to GlobalSecurity.org, a Web site compiling information on defense. Inflation mushroomed and the currency plummeted further on massive printing of counterfeit currency, driving the dinar down to anywhere between 3,500 and 4,000 against the dollar by mid-April 2003.

To improve the situation, the U.S.-led transition government Coalition Provisional Authority issued new dinar bills with watermarks and other technology making it difficult to counterfeit in October 2003.

Expectations of the dinar's appreciation against the dollar prompted Americans to start similar businesses, which inspired Taniguchi to start his.
Taniguchi gets dinar delivered from currency brokers who fly in from Saudi Arabia and other Middle Eastern countries with backpacks full of unwrinkled dinar bills worth about ¥10 million to ¥15 million, he said.

The brokers visit Japan every other week, he said. Taniguchi pays the brokers in dollars, he added.

He attributed his success to "honestly explaining risks."

Rise International will exchange bills if the Iraqi government issues new bills, he said. If his company goes bankrupt, clients can change the dinar to dollars and other currencies in the Middle East, he said.

What he is most cautious of is to make sure bills he sells are genuine. He said the current bills have watermarks and use other technology to prevent counterfeiting, and he has never seen fake dinar bills.

Iraqi Dinar Exchange Rates-Iraq Has Turned A Corner Toward National Revival

It Sounds Like Iraq Is Really Starting to Come Around, Now Maybe Iraqi Dinar Will

Hat Tip To Ken Kuhn and http://www.dealorbuydinar.com

16 April 2009

Iraq has turned a corner toward national revival. A restored and pacified Iraq is determined to regain its proper place in the Middle East and on the international scene. This is the optimistic message which Vice President Adil Abd Al-Mahdi brought this week to France - a country which he sees as a major partner in the reconstruction of Iraq after three decades of devastating wars.Iraq is courting France and is, in turn, being courted by it. Contracts worth many billions of euros are being negotiated, essentially in the fields of oil, security and infrastructure.

President Nicolas Sarkozy is anxious for France to gain a privileged position in Iraq, while Iraq sees its growing links with France as a way to diversify its international relations and lessen its dependence on the United States.Dr Abd Al-Mahdi, a French-trained economist and former Finance Minister, is a weighty figure in Iraqi politics. He is a leading member of the Islamic Supreme Council of Iraq (ISCI), headed by Abd Al-Aziz Al-Hakim.

This Iran-backed Shi'ite party is linked with Prime Minister Nuri Al-Maliki's Islamic Dawa Party in a grouping called the United Iraqi Alliance - in effect Iraq's ruling party. Dr Abd Al-Mahdi and Nuri Al-Maliki are allies (although they are also, it must be said, political rivals.) Nuri Al-Maliki is due in Paris next month to take the partnership with the French a step further.France's Total seems to have gained a head start over other international oil companies in developing Iraq's vast oil and gas reserves. It is negotiating some major concessions.

A French company has signed a contract with the Municipality of Baghdad for a water purification scheme worth nearly a billion dollars. A French consulting firm is designing a system to secure Iraq's borders. Its implementation is said to be worth another billion dollars. Eurocopter is to sell Iraq 24 helicopters for $500m. These are only among the first of many such contracts under negotiation.What picture of present-day Iraq does Dr Abd Al-Mahdi provide? It is of a country firmly on the way to national reconciliation and revival, a country that has, to a large extent, quelled an armed insurgency and greatly reduced the bitter sectarian killings of recent years.

Defeating the insurgency - especially in the key province of Al-Anbar - was accomplished thanks to the 'surge' in American troops, to a strengthened national army, and more particularly to the Sahwa militia or Sons of Iraq, an American-funded volunteer force made up of former Sunni insurgents. It was largely responsible for driving Al-Qaeda out of Al-Anbar. This, Dr Al-Mahdi said in Paris this week, was a decisive turning point in the struggle against terror.But dealing with a disbanded Sahwa - at one time nearly 100,000 strong - has not been easy. Attempts are being made to integrate its former members into the national security forces and other government departments.

A budget of $350m has been earmarked this year to pay their salaries. But some violent groups, operating under the Sahwa banner, have turned to crime. The recent arrest of a former Sahwa leader, Adil Mashhadani, said to be running a protection racket, triggered an outbreak of violence.Although greatly improved, security in Iraq is clearly not yet fully restored. Suicide bombers continue to claim their victims. But the social tissue of the country is being reconstituted. Iraq is being put together on a new basis of national reconciliation, democracy, federalism and fraternity with its neighbours - in particular with Iran, Turkey and Syria.Dr Al-Mahdi went out of his way to praise Turkey's 'very positive role' in Iraq, describing it as a major partner in the reconstruction of the country.

Turkish investments in Iraq total nearly $5bn, he said. Since the news from Iraq has been bad for a very long time, Dr Al-Mahdi's fairly upbeat assessment comes as a relief. A briefing this week by him and his team served to pinpoint a number of national priorities.Iraq is unique in the world in having more than 50 oilfields ready for development. It is urgently looking for foreign investment in its oil and gas industry, but also in every aspect of its smashed infrastructure. Iraq has external debts of $148bn, and is continuing to pay compensation to Kuwait for its 1990 invasion, to the tune of 5 per cent of Iraq's oil income, or $1.5bn a year.

To rebuild an educated elite, devastated by the flight of much of Iraq's middle class, the government is planning to send abroad 10,000 students a year for the next five years. Chosen strictly on merit, they will go to the UK, the U.S., France, Canada and Australia for higher education.Arabised by Saddam Hussein but claimed by the Kurds, the oil-rich region of Kirkuk is a possible future flashpoint. A compromise is being sought with the Kurdistan Regional Government - either in the form of a condominium or some sort of shared authority over Kirkuk. Staffan de Mistura, the energetic special representative in Iraq of the UN Secretary General, is heavily involved in the search for a solution.One surprise announcement is that Iraq and Iran are renegotiating the Algiers accord reached between Saddam Hussein and the Shah of Iran in 1975. The agreement - which Saddam tore up five years later when he launched his attack on Iran -- demarcated the disputed river boundary between the two neighbours according to the thalweg line in the middle of the Shatt Al-Arab waterway.

Iraq now claims that the boundary needs to be redrawn closer to the Iranian shore because of changes in the course of the Shatt. The fact that the Maliki government has chosen to raise this contentious issue with its close ally Iran is itself a signal that Iraqi national interests are being reasserted.One way and another, a revived and ambitious Iraq is putting the horrors of the past 30 years behind. It can be safely predicted that it will, in the not too distant future, be once again a power to be reckoned with.

By Patrick Seale © The Saudi Gazette 2009

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Iraqi Dinar-US Exit-Bring Peace Or More Conflict

How Will The US Exit Affect The Iraqi Dinar?

Will Troop Withdrawal from Iraq Bring Peace or Greater Conflict?

By MIDDLE EAST TIMES
Published: April 07, 2009

Much has been said, and perhaps even more written, about the 'surge' that turned the tide of the war in Iraq in favor of the United States. That was when President George W. Bush decreed late into his second term that extra troops were needed to put a stop to the rising insurgency.
Additional troops arrived and the level of violence went down. Coincidence? Well, actually, yes. Extra combat troops in the country certainly gave the insurgency a harder time. But there was more to it than that.

Raymond Tanter, a professor at Georgetown University in Washington, and a former member of President Ronald Reagan's National Security Council, believes there are other reasons, too.
Tanter reports in a recently published white paper titled, "President Obama and Iraq, Towards a Responsible Troop Drawdown," that "The underlying assumption is that an increase of stability in Iraq allows troops to be withdrawn."

This is the false assumption, he said. Several experts on Iraq, including a former minister of defense, fear that a premature withdrawal of troops could prove disastrous for Iraq.
But let us return momentarily to the question of the surge and the false belief that it actually worked.

"The American military," writes Tanter, "credits the surge. The government of Iraq credits its security forces; Iraqi tribal chiefs credit their 'awakening' against al-Qaida and in favor of coalition forces."

Truth be told, we might never really be able to calculate what contributed the most to the increase of stability in Iraq, and the U.S. military can well claim some of the responsibility for a better, safer Iraq since the introduction of the surge. There is no question that the insurgents were quite reluctant to fight coalition troops once the reinforcements arrived. Just as there is no question that when the surge happened pro-al-Qaida fighters simply moved to other provinces where there were fewer U.S. troops.

And the government of Iraq certainly deserves some of the credit given the huge price in blood that they paid.

As for the tribal chiefs, they have switched their alliance from al-Qaida and Islamist fighters to supporting the government and the Americans, because it suits their cause and their bank accounts.

But all that may change again as rapidly as it did the first time. The U.S. military will eventually pull out, leaving the Iraqis master of their destiny. There is the 64,000 devalued dinar question: will the Sunni tribesmen who make up the 'awakening' movement remain loyal once the checks stop coming?

One indication on how things can go in Iraq was demonstrated by a meeting Tanter had a few months ago with a Sunni tribal leader, who caught sight of Tanter's lapel pin, a small American flag.

Tanter asked the tribal sheikh if he liked the U.S. flag.
"I do now," said the Iraqi.

"What would you have done before?" asked Tanter, referring to the time, only a few months earlier when the Sunni tribes were not on the U.S. payroll.

"I would have killed you," replied the Sunni tribesman without emotion in his voice.
The tribesmen were turned once, they could just as easily turn a second time.

Iraqi officials say thousands of refugees return home - CNN.com

Is the start of a turning point in Iraq? And what are the implication for the Iraqi Dinar?

Iraqi officials say thousands of refugees return home - CNN.com: " BAGHDAD, Iraq (CNN) -- Some 46,000 Iraqi refugees returned to their war-torn country last month, a sign of hope that the massive population flight since the 2003 U.S. invasion could be reversed, an Iraqi commander said Wednesday."

Dinar rises against dollar for third time in a week - Politics & Economics - ArabianBusiness.com

Dinar rises against dollar for third time in a week - Politics & Economics - ArabianBusiness.com: "The dinar will trade around a mid point of 0.27710 per dollar, compared with 0.27720, the central bank said, allowing an appreciation of 0.04%. Kuwait's currency has risen 0.4% since October 23 and is at its highest since June 1988."

Despite its Shortage, Oil is Still the Most Powerful Weapon [Voltaire]

Despite its Shortage, Oil is Still the Most Powerful Weapon [Voltaire]: "Despite its Shortage, Oil is Still the Most Powerful Weapon The German Energy Monitoring Group said that the world’s oil production has reached climax in 2006, adding that it will decline by more than half by the year 2030. The group pointed out that will result in a shortage of production which will be difficult to address although the increasing demand on organic energy, nuclear power, as well as sources of the alternative energy. These results come at a time oil prices have hit new records due to the shortage of supplies, and the tension in the Middle East, and amid news that Russia has started building the first factory for producing the biological fuel in Tataristan province, which is supposed to transform about one million tons of wheat into fuel for cars annually. In taking this step, Russia is following the example of Europe which is very keen on developing the industry of biological fuel as an alternative of oil, but all of that does not deny the fact that oil is still the most powerful weapon in our modern times, and which was present in Rice’s talks on Russia, not only that, but also pushed it to criticize Moscow yesterday for using oil as a political weapon. Expectations of Growth of the Iraqi Economy by 6% This Year The Iraqi Deputy Prime Minister said that his country’s economy is recovering cautiously, pointing out that the international estimates expects the Iraqi economy to achieve a growth rate of 6%. He further said that the Iraqi government has succeeded in controlling the average of inflation to settle at 33% this year, and 16% last month."

Iraqi Dinar has appreciated 20% over the last year

SO here it is...I hear from a lot of people what a scam Iraqi Dinar is. Hmmmm...war torn country in the middle of sectarian violence, but it appreciates 20%. So does this mean anything or not.

You make the call.

Iraqi Dinar has appreciated 20% over the last year: "Iraqi Dinar has appreciated 20% over the last year Hugo Mann Published 10/25/2007 - 4:03 p.m. EDT The Central Bank Of Iraq (CBI) has had some success at appreciating the Iraqi dinar as suggested by the International Monetary Fund IMF. The CBI has appreciated the dinar hoping to curb inflation. The U.S. department of state says that the year to date inflation through August is 11.2%. The year on year rate of inflation dropped 20%. The Iraqi dinar was worth 1470 dinar per U.S. dollar in November of 2006 and has appreciated against the dollar to 1230 dinar per dollar according to the CBI."

US urges Iran to join Iraq talks

It is about time that these kind of regional talks occur over the situation in Iraq. Well I guess four years late is better than never.

US urges Iran to join Iraq talks

By FT reporters
Published: April 22 2007 22:21 Last updated: April 22 2007 22:21

Condoleezza Rice is urging Iran to join her at a high-level conference on the future of Iraq next week, signalling that Washington is now ready for a serious exchange of views with Tehran after several months of resisting Iran’s advances in the region.

In an interview with the Financial Times, the US secretary of state said it would be a “missed opportunity” if Manouchehr Mottaki, Iran’s foreign minister, did not attend the minister-level meeting to be hosted by Egypt.
Ms Rice denied that the Bush administration’s Iran policy had ever been directed at regime change, insisting that the aim was to “have a change in regime behaviour”.

Washington’s need to secure the right regional environment for its eventual withdrawal from Iraq is growing ever more acute as its “surge” of extra troops is failing to contain the violence.

Last Wednesday alone nearly 200 people died in bombings, and on Sunday 17 Iraqis were killed.
That “hostile forces” would respond to the US security plan was to be expected, Ms Rice said, blaming al Qaeda, not Iran, for the suicide bombings. She said two more US brigades were still to be deployed, adding the US needed “a little time” to judge the “trend lines”.

Ms Rice’s attempts to draw Iran into the conference – which will include Iraq’s neighbours as well as the permanent members of the UN security council and the G8 industrialised nations – contrasted with her previous resistance to such talks.

Since then there had been a “rebalancing”, she said, particularly after President George W. Bush’s speech on January 10 announcing the extra troops and a more aggressive response to Iran’s perceived role in arming and training Iraqi Shia militia.

Analysts said it remained to be seen whether the US had achieved what Robert Gates, the defence secretary, said in January was the “leverage” it needed before engaging Iran.

Iran says it will decide on its attendance at the May 3-4 conference after meeting Hoshyar Zebari, Iraq’s foreign minister, this week. Iran’s foreign ministry spokesman on Sunday noted a “softening” in Ms Rice’s rhetoric. But he added that any “shift” should be put into practice.

Reporting by Guy Dinmore, Lionel Barber and Ed Luce in Washington and Najmeh Bozorgmehr in Tehran
Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2007