U.S. Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice has urged Tehran to attend a conference on Iraq scheduled for May 3-4, saying that it would be a "missed opportunity" if Iran failed to show up.

In an interview published in Monday's edition of the Financial Times, Rice said "It will be a missed opportunity if he (the Iranian foreign minister) doesn't attend, but obviously it's up to the Iranian government."

Iran has not yet disclosed whether Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki will participate in the meeting due to be held in Egypt's Red Sea resort of Sharm el-Sheikh.

Rice also said that the Iran policy of President George W. Bush's administration is not aimed at a "regime change."

"It is not the policy of the U.S. government. The policy is to have a change in regime behaviour," she said.

Rice will take part in the two-day meeting and meet officials from Iran and Syria, according to the U.S. State Department.

The upcoming conference in Egypt is aimed at engaging Iraq's Arab neighbors and the international community constructively in helping the Iraqi government restore stability and begin reconstruction.

The conference is a follow-up to an ambassador-level meeting on the security situation in Iraq held in Baghdad on March 10, in which American officials held rare direct talks with their foes: Iranian and Syrian officials.