WASHINGTON, June 8 (UPI) -- The Bush administration appeared Wednesday to drop its opposition to Mohammed ElBaradei's bid for a third term as head of the U.N. nuclear watchdog agency.
U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said she would meet Thursday with ElBaradei, head of the International Atomic Energy Agency, to discuss his plans for the agency.
Washington had until now said any IAEA chief should have a term limit of two terms. ElBaradei is seeking his third.
"We have worked well with Dr. ElBaradei in the past and I'm going to meet him tomorrow to discuss his vision for what the IAEA will do in these next extremely important years," Rice said after a meeting with German Foreign Minister Joschka Fischer.
She said Iran's nuclear program, and ways to amend the nuclear non-proliferation treaty would be discussed.
ElBaradei had clashed with the Bush administration over its evidence -- eventually shown to be exaggerated -- of Iraq's weapons of mass destruction program.
