Rice Disputes Claim of Iranian Overture

Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice testifies on Capitol Hill in Washington, Wednesday, Feb. 7, 2007 before the House Foreign Affairs Committee hearing on the State Department's fiscal 2008 budget. . (AP Photo/Susan Walsh) (Susan Walsh - AP)

Leverett said he has never discussed with Rice whether she saw it.

"This administration, out of some combination of ideological blindness and incompetence, couldn't be bothered to explore whether this opportunity was as serious as it looked on paper," Leverett said Wednesday.

Critics also say that engagement in 2003 might have blunted Iranian influence in Iraq. Shiite militias and death squads, some with ties to Iran, are blamed for much of the sectarian violence in Iraq.

In June 2006, Rice had indicated that she was familiar with the proposal. She was asked about the offer during an interview with National Public Radio, and she appeared to provide the first official confirmation that it existed.

"What the Iranians wanted earlier was to be one-on-one with the United States so that this could be about the United States and Iran," Rice said then. She contrasted that with the current U.S. stance, in which the United States has offered to join European-led talks with Iran over its nuclear program if Iran meets preconditions. Iran has refused.

The Bush administration has resisted suggestions, including from the bipartisan Iraq Study Group, that is should engage Iran to try to improve security in next-door Iraq. Lawmakers challenged that position Wednesday and about the administration's current stepped-up rhetoric and seeming provocation of Iraq.

Rice repeated Bush's assurance that "we're not planning or intending an attack on Iran."

"What we are doing is we're responding to a number of Iranian policies both in Iraq and around the world that are actually quite dangerous for our national security," she said.