The Egyptian delegate to the talks held under the auspices of the International Commission on Nuclear Non-Proliferation and Disarmament (ICNND) said the discussion was "rather polemical."

But it marked the first reported exchange between senior Israeli and Iranian delegates at an official forum since the the 1979 Islamic revolution.

The Egyptian delegate told AFP that Israel had been represented by former foreign minister Shlomo Ben Ami and Iran by its envoy to the International Atomic Energy Agency, Ali Asghar Soltanieh.

"During the first session Ben Ami and Soltanieh spoke," he said, asking not to be named.

"We had round-table discussions ... then there were cross-table discussions. It was rather polemical, with accusations.

"Soltanieh said the Iranians do not have a (nuclear) bomb and do not want the bomb, but the Israelis said that was not true," the official said, adding that he did not know if the Israelis and Iranians had also met bilaterally on the sidelines.

"This is not the first time (Israelis and Iranians have had contact) but I believe this is the first time they are present at this level of representation," he added.

Israel's Haaretz newspaper said that during the September 29-30 talks the director of policy and arms control of Israel's Atomic Energy Commission, Meirav Zafary-Odiz, had a series of exchanges with Soltanieh.

In one exchange, Soltanieh asked Zafary-Odiz: "Do you or do you not have nuclear weapons," Haaretz said, citing unidentified participants in the meeting. The Israeli smiled but did not respond, the daily said.

Soltanieh insisted Tehran did not hate Jews, although it opposed Zionism, the daily added.

Iran reacted angrily to any suggestion there had been any change in its policy towards the Jewish state.

"The Islamic republic does not recognise the Zionist regime. Moreover it considers this regime a counterfeit and illegitimate one," Iranian Atomic Energy Organisation spokesman Ali Shirzadian said.

"This lie is a kind of psychological operation designed to affect the constant success of Iran's dynamic diplomacy in the Geneva and Vienna meetings," state television quoted Shirzadian as saying on its website.

The spokesman was referring to talks with major powers that Iran held in the two cities in recent weeks on its uranium enrichment programme.

The International Commission on Nuclear Non-Proliferation is an initiative of Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd. It has sponsored a series of regional meetings around the world in recent months.

The Cairo meeting was attended by around 30 participants from countries including Egypt, Jordan and Saudi Arabia, as well as Iran and Israel.

In a joint statement issued afterwards, former foreign ministers Gareth Evans of Australia and Yoriko Kawaguchi of Japan said delegates had "examined various options for creating a Middle East zone free of weapons of mass destruction and what circumstances would facilitate such an outcome."

"Short of nuclear disarmament, there was lively debate over the possible shape and potential value of assurances by nuclear weapon states about non-use of nuclear weapons against countries without such weapons," the statement said.

Delegates also "reviewed recent regional developments, including Iran's announcements on its uranium enrichment programme," it added.

Israel has the Middle East's sole if undeclared nuclear arsenal.

It suspects Iran's nuclear programme is cover for a drive for a bomb of its own and has refused to rule out a resort to military action to stop it ever getting one.

Iran insists its nuclear programme is solely for peaceful purposes. It has held two rounds of talks with major powers this autumn aimed at allaying Western suspicions about the purpose of its enrichment activities.

The ICNND is a joint Australian-Japanese initiative. It seeks to reduce the risks of nuclear war by promoting disarmament and combating the spread of atomic weapons, notably in advance of a United Nations treaty review next May.

related report
Iran vows to retain uranium enrichment rights: Salehi
Iran vowed it will cling on to its right to enrich uranium to more than five percent purity even if it strikes a deal for a third party to do the work, as Israel came out against any such deal.

"As we have said before, we will not give up our rights," Ali Akbar Salehi, head of Iran's Atomic Energy Organisation, was quoted as saying by state-owned Iran newspaper on Thursday.

Full details of an enrichment agreement between the Islamic Republic and international powers will be unveiled on Friday, according to Ali Asghar Soltanieh, Iran's ambassador to the International Atomic Energy Authority.

But Salehi said: "There is actually no need for us to enrich uranium to more than four or five percent purity as the reactors that we use need uranium enriched to a maximum of five percent."

"So, enrichment to five percent is the highest level that we want for our reactors. But that does not mean that we will renounce our right to enrich uranium level to a higher level."

Israel Defense Minister Ehud Barak said an enrichment deal would grant legitimacy to Iran to enrich uranium.

"If they don't stop the enrichment, the result is that Iran receives legitimacy to enrich uranium on its soil for civilian purposes, in complete contravention of the understandings reached by those who oppose (Iran) and understand their real goal of acquiring nuclear (weapon) capabilities," Barak told a conference in Jerusalem.

"We recommend to all parties that they not, under any circumstances, take any options off the table," Barak said.

The sole if undeclared nuclear-armed state in the Middle East, Israel has never ruled out a resort to military action to stop Iran achieving a nuclear capability.

Diplomats say the UN atomic watchdog drew up a draft agreement on Wednesday for Russia to process Iranian low-enriched uranium to the 20 percent required by a research reactor in Tehran and for France to turn it into fuel form.

That followed two and a half days of talks in Vienna also involving the United States, where lawmakers unveiled on Thursday a new sanction bill against Iran amid a rising tide of support in the US Congress for imposing fresh sanctions on Iran over its nuclear programme.

"Iran has the capability to enrich uranium to 20 percent but prefers to obtain the fuel from abroad," Salehi said.

"This policy has numerous hidden messages that I would rather not go into," he added.

Salehi said the volume of partly enriched uranium that would be sent abroad under the deal was "not large" and "not a big deal." He did not elaborate.

Diplomats have said the document includes demands that Iran ship out most of its stockpile of low-enriched uranium for further processing by another country.

Uranium enrichment is the sensitive process that lies at the heart of Western concerns about Iran's nuclear programme. It produces fuel for civilian reactors, but in highly extended form can also make the fissile core of an atomic bomb.

IAEA chief Mohamed ElBaradei has asked Iran and the major powers to give their views on the draft by Friday.

In Washington, US lawmakers on Thursday unveiled a new Iran sanctions bill that could bar major global telecommunications giants that do business with the Islamic republic from lucrative US government contracts.

The Accountability for Business Choices in Iran Act, or ABC Iran Act, takes aim at non-US firms that invest or operate in Tehran's energy sector or export "sensitive technology" that could be used by the Iranian government.

The United Against Nuclear Iran advocacy group, which helped write the measure, maintains a list of companies that do business in Iran and notes that telecommunications giants Nokia and Siemens could be affected.

Share This Article With Planet Earth

del.icio.us	Digg	Reddit
YahooMyWeb	Google	Facebook

Related Links
Learn about nuclear weapons doctrine and defense at SpaceWar.com
Learn about missile defense at SpaceWar.com
All about missiles at SpaceWar.com
Learn about the Superpowers of the 21st Century at SpaceWar.com

Memory Foam Mattress Review

SPACE MEDIA NETWORK PROMOTIONS Solar Energy Solutions Tempur-Pedic Mattress Comparison ... Newsletters :: SpaceDaily :: SpaceWar :: TerraDaily :: Energy Daily XML Feeds :: Space News :: Earth News :: War News :: Solar Energy News