US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, who arrived in the Middle East for her first official visit Monday, expressed doubt that Iran would respond to the Obama administration's expressions of interest in engaging Tehran on nuclear and other issues, a senior State Department official said.

Clinton was in Egypt's Sharm el-Sheik to attend an international conference to raise money for the war-torn Gaza Strip, where donors pledged $4.4 billion in new funds, according to Egypt's foreign minister, Ahmed Aboul Gheit.

He added that other nations recommitted themselves to funds they promised in the past but never delivered, bringing the total to $5.2 billion in pledges. Aboul Gheit said the figure is "beyond of our expectations."

Clinton made the statement on Iran in a private meeting with the foreign minister of the United Arab Emirates, Abdullah bin Zayed Al Nahyan, who had expressed to Clinton a concern among Persian Gulf nations that Obama might make a deal with Iran without full consultation with US allies. The official who described the exchange spoke on condition of anonymity because the meeting was private.

Clinton told her counterpart that the Obama administration is carefully calculating its moves and will consult fully with Gulf allies.

"We're under no illusions," the official quoted Clinton as telling Abdullah. "Our eyes are wide open on Iran."

She told the UAE minister, whose country has close historic commercial ties to Iran but is wary of Iranian nuclear ambitions, that she doubts the Iranian government, will respond to US diplomatic initiatives. Last week Clinton announced that she has appointed veteran diplomat Dennis Ross to be her special adviser on matters related to the Gulf, to include overtures to the Iranians.

On Monday, Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Hasan Qashqavi told reporters in Tehran, "We have said many times that a nuclear weapon has no place in Iran's defense doctrine."

Clinton also told her UAE counterpart that Iran's "worst nightmare" is an international community united against Iranian nuclear ambitions, the US official said.

Pushing for peace

Clinton then went on to declare that the Obama administration is committed to pushing intensively to find a way for Israelis and Palestinians to exist peacefully in separate states.

"We cannot afford more setbacks or delays or regrets about what might have been, had different decisions been made," she said

With the Obama administration's Mideast peace envoy George Mitchell , seated behind her at the aid conference, Clinton said the US president would continue the Bush administration's focus on seeking a two-state solution that entails Israel and a sovereign Palestinian state co-existing in peace.





Clinton and Mubarak during conference (Photo: Reuters)

She made it clear, however, that Mideast leaders could count on Obama to take a more active approach than did his predecessor.

"It is time to look ahead," she said, "The United States is committed to a comprehensive peace between Israel and its Arab neighbors, and we will pursue it on many fronts."

Clinton, who is scheduled to travel to Jerusalem on Tuesday to consult with Israeli government officials, said the United States was pledging $900 million to the international aid effort for the Gaza Strip: Some $300 million in humanitarian aid for Gaza and $600 million in budget and development aid to the Palestinian Authority, in the West Bank.

"We have worked with the Palestinian Authority to install safeguards that will ensure our funding is only used where and for whom it is intended and does not end up in the wrong hands," Clinton told the conference.

"Our response to today's crisis in Gaza cannot be separated from our broader efforts to achieve a comprehensive peace," she said. "Only by acting now can we turn this crisis into an opportunity that moves us closer to our shared goals."

"By providing humanitarian aid to Gaza we also aim to foster conditions in which a Palestinian state can be fully realized, a state that is a responsible partner, is at peace with Israel and its Arab neighbors and is accountable to its people," she added.

Clinton also met with Egyptian FM Aboul Gheit, Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak , French President Nicolas Sarkozy and Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi, and she attended a meeting of the so-called Quartet of international mediators, the US, the European Union, the United Nations and Russia, seeking to forge progress toward peace between Israel and its Arab neighbors.

At that session, Mitchell added that while the situation between Israel and the Palestinians is difficult, he sees opportunity for progress. He stressed the need to consolidate a ceasefire in Gaza and he forecast that once Israel creates a new governing coalition it will be in position to improve living conditions in the West Bank.