ASTANA, Oct 5: The Bush administration is still considering setting up a diplomatic mission in Iran to improve contacts between the Iranian and American peoples, US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said on Sunday.

Rice poured cold water on a news report that the administration had decided to hand the issue to its successor to avoid sending a negative signal while Iran pursued sensitive nuclear work in defiance of the international community.

“We continue to look at the idea,” Rice told reporters who asked about a report that plans for opening a US interests section in Iran had been shelved.

“I think it’s an interesting idea, but we’re going to take a look at it in the light of what it can do for our relationship with the Iranian people,” she said on a flight from India to Kazakhstan for talks on separate matters.

When asked again if there is still a chance such an interests section could be set up before President George Bush leaves office in January, Rice replied: “We’re still looking at the idea.” US officials stress that a US interests section had always been considered in the context of improving contacts between the American and Iranian people rather than between the two governments. Such a mission would not mark a move to restore diplomatic relations.

Similarly, Rice reminded journalists in July that the presence of the US interests section in Cuba did not indicate a thaw in relations between the US and the communist island nation.—AFP