Former top diplomats urge next president to engage Iran

Former US secretaries of state on Monday urged the next US president to work closely with key allies, engage with Iran, and avoid ruptures with awkward partners Russia and China.

Colin Powell, Madeleine Albright, Warren Christopher, James Baker and Henry Kissinger gave advice at a panel here that often appeared closer to the views of Democratic candidate Barack Obama than than to those Republican John McCain.

And although they did not actually endorse Obama, Republicans Powell and Baker joined Albright, a Democrat, in saying that Obama's election as the first US black president would send a powerful message to the rest of the world.

On Iran and Syria, both Republican and Democratic former secretaries backed engagement when they spoke at a panel at George Washington University. McCain slammed Obama earlier in the campaign for taking a similar stand.

"I believe we need to engage with Iran," said Albright who served under President Bill Clinton during his second term.

Powell agreed with Albright.

"Let's get together and talk about nuclear weapons... Start a dialogue at a low level and let it grow over time," said Powell, who served President George W. Bush in his first term.

While serving for President George H.W. Bush in the 1990s, Baker recalled that the elder Bush's administration offered to meet with Iran at the highest diplomatic level, but Iran refused for its own political reasons.

Baker also said the United States might have to contain Iran just as it did with the Soviet Union for decades.

The next American president, he said, should be prepared to warn Tehran that Washington will aim its "strategic deterrant" at Iran if it points a nuclear missile at Israeli or US targets.

Kissinger, who served under both Richard Nixon and Gerald Ford, said: "I'm in favor of negotiating with Iran."

The US aim would be to achieve a stable Middle East, he said.

Baker, Christopher and Albright also backed engagement with Syria.

For Baker, it is "ridiculous to say we're not going to talk to the Syrians" when Israel has been holding indirect negotiations with Syria for the last few months in a bid for a peace deal.

He said he also believed Syria was more interested in restoring ties with Sunni Arab states than maintaining what he called a "marriage of convenience with Iran."

Albright said it was important to engage Syria to promote reconciliation among Sunnis and Shiites in Iraq, which borders Syria. "Syria needs to be part of it," she said.

Echoing a view shared by many on the panel, Kissinger said the next president must work "to restore a sense of confidence in the United States of America," and let allies "know that America is reaching out to them."

Mindful of US-Russian tension over Russia's incursion last month into US-backed Georgia, Kissinger and Baker stressed there were larger strategic interests at stake.

Kissinger said Russia is needed to resolve the showdown with Iran over its nuclear program.

"I would urge the new president ... to explore the possibility of cooperation and be very sure before we go the route of cutting off the WTO (World Trade Organization) and other international measures," he said.

His view appeared closer to that of Obama, who blasted McCain's hardline stance on Georgia.

During campaigning last month, McCain declared that "today we are all Georgians" and demanded that Moscow be evicted from the G8 grouping of leading powers.

Baker said the United States must deal with flashpoints like Georgia but this should "not be a cause for rupturing the entire relationship."

On China, Kissinger said there were also differences over Sudan's Darfur region, Tibet and human rights but both sides should cooperate because of China's rising power in the world.

"It will be catastrophic if in China an anti-Western nationalism will replace the previous communist philosophy," said Kissinger, who nonetheless said he was optimistic.

During the Nixon presidency, where he also served as national security adviser, Kissinger helped the United States relax tensions with the Soviet Union and open relations with China as a counterpoint to Soviet influence.