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Entertainer’s dress irks Iran’s Mottaki

SHARM EL-SHEIKH: Iran’s foreign minister abruptly left a dinner where he was to sit opposite US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, complaining that a red dress worn by an entertainer was too revealing, a US official said on Friday. Expectations had been high that Rice might use a dinner held on the sidelines of an Iraq conference on Thursday to get to know Iranian Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki, but instead the foreign minister left as guests were being seated. US officials said Mottaki complained to his Egyptian host the red dress worn by a Russian violinist, the entertainer for the evening, was offensive and he could not stay for the beachside dinner at the Sheraton hotel at the Red Sea resort. “I am not sure which woman he was afraid of, the woman in the red dress or the secretary of state,” said State Department spokesman Sean McCormack. US officials said they believed Mottaki left because he did not want to sit opposite Rice and that the seating plan had caused consternation for Iranians. Egyptian and Iranian officials did not immediately respond to questions about the dinner or the reason for Mottaki’s departure. reuters

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