Iran will not negotiate with the United States until it stops its "evil approach", the government's spokesman was quoted as saying yesterday, two days before the two nations were due to attend a meeting on Iraq.

US officials say Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice is ready to talk with Iran on the sidelines of the conference in Egypt tomorrow and on Friday but only if such contact is deemed useful.

The conference at the Red Sea resort of Sharm El Sheikh - one on security and the other among Iraqi donors aiming to slash Baghdad's foreign debt and boost reconstruction efforts - will involve Iraq's neighbours.

Asked whether the two would hold talks at the Sharm El Sheikh meeting, Deputy Foreign Minister Mehdi Mostafavi replied: "For the moment the conditions do not exist for such a dialogue.

"The US cannot have this hostile attitude and say on the other hand that they are favourable to negotiations," he said.

Government spokesman Gholam Hossein Elham said: "So long as the US does not renounce its attitude and oppressive and satanic vision, the problems will not be solved," he said.

"The Americans know that they are faced with Iran as a real, capable power because Iran has entered the field of the nuclear technology and has the will to move forward," Elham said. "That is why they are after negotiating with Iran somehow," Elham said.

Iran's Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki is due to take part in the meeting of Iraq's neighbours to discuss ways to end the violence, as are officials from the Group of Eight of leading industrialised nations and the European Union.

Meanwhile, 49 countries have confirmed they will attend the Egypt conference. The Iraqi delegation will be headed by Prime Minister Nuri Al Maliki.

US President George W Bush said yesterday that the conference on Iraq's security will be "an important test" of whether Iran and Syria truly want to help their war-torn neighbour.

"Iran and Syria have been invited to attend. This will be an important test of whether these regimes are truly interested in playing a constructive role in Iraq," Bush said.

PHOTO CAPTION

Iranian deputy foreign minister Mehdi Mostafavi speaks with the media in Pretoria, 2006. (AFP)