Iran, Israel traded barbs at nuclear talks: delegate
October 22, 2009 @ 12:13 pm
AFP
Thursday, October 22, 2009
Iranian and Israeli officials traded barbs during nuclear talks in Cairo, an Egyptian official who attended the first high level contact between the two arch-foes in 30 years told AFP on Thursday.
The Egyptian delegate to the talks held under the auspices of the International Commission on Nuclear Non-Proliferation said that 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.
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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.