Iranian Foreign Minister Playing Games with Secretary Rice

Where have you seen this type of behavior before?

Did the lady in red thwart Mideast diplomacy?
by ANNE GEARAN AND QASSIM ABDUL-ZAHRA
Associated Press

May 4, 2007

SHARM EL-SHEIK, EGYPT — Iran's Foreign Minister walked out of a dinner of diplomats where he was seated directly across from Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, on the pretext that the female violinist entertaining the gathering was dressed too revealingly.

“I don't know which woman he was afraid of, the woman in the red dress or the Secretary of State,” U.S. State Department spokesman Sean McCormack said Friday, regarding the actions of Iran's Manouchehr Mottaki.

The dinner episode Thursday night amid a major regional conference on Iraq perfectly revealed how hard it was to bring together the top diplomats of the two rival nations.
...
As it turned out, Mr. Mottaki's place was set directly across the table from Ms. Rice. When Mr. Mottaki entered the dinner and saw the arrangement, he immediately told his hosts that he had to excuse himself and leave, said a U.S. official who accompanied Ms. Rice.

Mr. Mottaki complained that the Egyptian female violinist playing nearby was too revealingly dressed, the official said, speaking on condition of anonymity, also because the dinner was a closed affair.

The Iranians are engaging in yet another of their acts of manipulative game playing. No doubt they were emboldened by Neville Nancy's recent undermining of President Bush's foreign policy (see below) and saw this as another opportunity to play games instead of deal directly and honestly with the U.S. Secretary of State.

Iran Still Killing Americans In Iraq

Meanwhile, U.S. forces in Iraq continued to round up Iranian backed terrorists in Iraq supplied with advanced explosives used to kill Americans.

One wonders what Secretary Rice would have told the Iranian Foreign Minister had the meeting taken place.