US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice will not meet with Iran's Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki on the sidelines of Asian security talks in Kuala Lumpur, a US official said today.

Rice arrived in the Malaysian capital to attend the Asean Regional Forum which will be hosted by the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) on Friday.

Mottaki was a surprise arrival in Kuala Lumpur today. Iran is not officially a participant in Friday's talks, and Iranian diplomats and Malaysian foreign ministry officials declined to say who he would be meeting here.

However, top US envoy Christopher Hill said that his visit was a bilateral issue with Malaysia, and related to negotiations within the Organisation of the Islamic Conference (OIC) which Malaysia chairs.

Here to discuss ME

"It has nothing to do with Secretary Rice. Secretary Rice is here for the Asean meeting, the Asean Regional Forum. We are not a member of the OIC," he said when asked if the two would meet.

"He's coming here to discuss the Middle East," a diplomatic source familiar with Mottaki's visit told AFP .

Malaysia is pushing for a coordinated response from the OIC to the deteriorating security situation in the Middle East, and is working on plans for a meeting of leaders of key Muslim countries to discuss the crisis.