Israeli and Iranian nuclear envoys held an unprecedented, if brief, conversation last month at a closed-door Middle East disarmament conference in Egypt, an Israeli official said yesterday.
Israel and Iran attended a Sept. 29 to Sept. 30 Cairo meeting of the International Commission on Nuclear Non-Proliferation and Disarmament, an unofficial forum established by the Australian and Japanese governments, the group’s Web site said.
An Israeli official with knowledge of the talks said that at one point Iran’s delegate, Ali Ashghar Soltanieh, asked his Israeli counterpart at the conference, Meirav Zafary-Odiz, about her country’s nuclear capabilities.
“She gave her answers and later the Israeli delegation addressed a question in the same vein to the Iranians, which was answered,” the official said, adding that the exchange took place in open session and that the sides did not meet privately.
Iran said no separate meeting took place between the Israeli and Iranian delegations.
Iran’s refusal to recognize Israel has honed fears over a nuclear project that Tehran insists is peaceful, but that Israelis — assumed to have the region’s only atomic arsenal — consider a mortal threat.
While world powers try to talk Iran into curbing technology with bomb-making potential, analysts see Israel examining options such as preemptive strikes, enhanced defenses and indirect diplomacy designed to defuse the perceived threat.
Israeli and Iranian envoys often participate in UN forums such as the Vienna-based International Atomic Energy Agency, where Soltanieh is Tehran’s ambassador.
But the Israeli official said the Cairo talks were unprecedented in that they featured a direct dialogue.
Asked about the exchange, a spokeswoman for Israel’s Atomic Energy Commission, where Zafary-Odiz has a senior position, said: “Such an event did take place.”
She gave no further details.
Word of the meeting resurfaced in Israeli daily Haaretz yesterday after Australian newspaper the Age broke it last week.
MORE VISITORS: The Tourism Administration said that it is seeing positive prospects in its efforts to expand the tourism market in North America and Europe Taiwan has been ranked as the cheapest place in the world to travel to this year, based on a list recommended by NerdWallet. The San Francisco-based personal finance company said that Taiwan topped the list of 16 nations it chose for budget travelers because US tourists do not need visas and travelers can easily have a good meal for less than US$10. A bus ride in Taipei costs just under US$0.50, while subway rides start at US$0.60, the firm said, adding that public transportation in Taiwan is easy to navigate. The firm also called Taiwan a “food lover’s paradise,” citing inexpensive breakfast stalls
TRADE: A mandatory declaration of origin for manufactured goods bound for the US is to take effect on May 7 to block China from exploiting Taiwan’s trade channels All products manufactured in Taiwan and exported to the US must include a signed declaration of origin starting on May 7, the Bureau of Foreign Trade announced yesterday. US President Donald Trump on April 2 imposed a 32 percent tariff on imports from Taiwan, but one week later announced a 90-day pause on its implementation. However, a universal 10 percent tariff was immediately applied to most imports from around the world. On April 12, the Trump administration further exempted computers, smartphones and semiconductors from the new tariffs. In response, President William Lai’s (賴清德) administration has introduced a series of countermeasures to support affected
CROSS-STRAIT: The vast majority of Taiwanese support maintaining the ‘status quo,’ while concern is rising about Beijing’s influence operations More than eight out of 10 Taiwanese reject Beijing’s “one country, two systems” framework for cross-strait relations, according to a survey released by the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) on Thursday. The MAC’s latest quarterly survey found that 84.4 percent of respondents opposed Beijing’s “one country, two systems” formula for handling cross-strait relations — a figure consistent with past polling. Over the past three years, opposition to the framework has remained high, ranging from a low of 83.6 percent in April 2023 to a peak of 89.6 percent in April last year. In the most recent poll, 82.5 percent also rejected China’s
PLUGGING HOLES: The amendments would bring the legislation in line with systems found in other countries such as Japan and the US, Legislator Chen Kuan-ting said Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Legislator Chen Kuan-ting (陳冠廷) has proposed amending national security legislation amid a spate of espionage cases. Potential gaps in security vetting procedures for personnel with access to sensitive information prompted him to propose the amendments, which would introduce changes to Article 14 of the Classified National Security Information Protection Act (國家機密保護法), Chen said yesterday. The proposal, which aims to enhance interagency vetting procedures and reduce the risk of classified information leaks, would establish a comprehensive security clearance system in Taiwan, he said. The amendment would require character and loyalty checks for civil servants and intelligence personnel prior to
RSS