• 22 October 2009
  • Posted By David Elliott
  • 2 Comments
  • Diplomacy, Nuclear file

Confirmed: Nuclear Talks Between Iran & Israel

22 October 2009 Posted By David Elliott

Haaretz has confirmed an earlier report that representatives from Iran and Israel both took part in a conference on nuclear nonproliferation in Cairo.

The exchanges between the Iranian and Israeli representatives took place within three panel sessions, each dealing with one of the issues with which the [International Commission on Nuclear Non-Proliferation and Disarmament] is concerned – declaring the Middle East a nuclear-free zone, preventing nuclear proliferation in the region and matters of nuclear energy for peaceful purposes. The two did not meet or shake hands outside the sessions. In one of the discussions, Soltanieh [Iran’s ambassador to the IAEA] directly asked Zafary-Odiz [director of policy and arms control for the Israel Atomic Energy Commission]- and eyewitnesses say he spoke in an impassioned voice, “Do you or do you not have nuclear weapons?” Zafary-Odiz smiled, but did not respond.

During the meetings, Zafary-Odiz explained the Israeli policy of being willing, in principle, to discuss the Middle East as a nuclear-free zone. She also detailed Israel’s unique strategic situation, saying regional security must be strengthened, security arrangements must be agreed upon and a peace agreement must be sealed before Israel would feel at liberty to discuss this topic.

…

Soltanieh defended his country’s policy, and said Iran was not striving for nuclear armament and did not endanger Israel. He said Israel did not understand the mentality and ideology of the Tehran regime. He said the regime did not oppose or hate Jews, but was merely politically opposed to Zionism. He said Iran’s growing arsenal of missiles was for defensive, not offensive, purposes.

The Iranians have denied the report, calling it a “a psychological operation to undermine the successful [nuclear] meetings in Geneva [October 1] and Vienna [October 19-21].”

Posted By David Elliott

David Elliott is the Assistant Policy Director at the National Iranian American Council.

    2 Responses to “Confirmed: Nuclear Talks Between Iran & Israel”

  1. Pirouz says:
    October 22, 2009 at 11:23 am

    These types of encounters between Iranian and Israeli representatives do happen periodically at Middle Eastern conferences. They are not, in themselves, terribly unusual. What is unusual is for Israeli officials to purposely report such encounters to their press.

    The Iranians are right. This is a psychological operation, and it’s designed to embarrass them right before the MEU nuclear deal deadline. At the same time, the Israeli press is bombastically reporting that the the Vienna talks are proof that coercion is working against the Iranians. Obviously the intent is to sew discord in Tehran’s decision making process, and undermine cooperation between Iran and the P5+1.

    David, your unqualified post only serves to propagate the deliberate manipulations of anti-Iranian Zionists.

    Reply
  2. Eric says:
    October 23, 2009 at 3:52 pm

    always blame the “zionists.” i’m sure you believe the lies ahmadi says too.

    Reply

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Dear Mr. Page:

It has come to our attention that Google has begun omitting the title of the Persian Gulf from its Google Maps application. This is a disconcerting development given the undisputed historic and geographic precedent of the name Persian Gulf, and the more recent history of opening up the name to political, ethnic, and territorial disputes. However unintentionally, in adopting this practice, Google is participating in a dangerous effort to foment tensions and ethnic divisions in the Middle East by politicizing the region’s geographic nomenclature. Members of the Iranian-American community are overwhelmingly opposed to such efforts, particularly at a time when regional tensions already have been pushed to the brink and threaten to spill over into conflict. As the largest grassroots organization in the Iranian-American community, the National Iranian American Council (NIAC) calls on Google to not allow its products to become propaganda tools and to immediately reinstate the historically accurate, apolitical title of “Persian Gulf” in all of its informational products, including Google Maps.

Historically, the name “Persian Gulf” is undisputed. The Greek geographer and astronomer Ptolemy referencing in his writings the “Aquarius Persico.” The Romans referred to the "Mare Persicum." The Arabs historically call the body of water, "Bahr al-Farsia." The legal precedent of this nomenclature is also indisputable, with both the United Nations and the United States Board of Geographic Names confirming the sole legitimacy of the term “Persian Gulf.” Agreement on this matter has also been codified by the signatures of all six bordering Arab countries on United Nations directives declaring this body of water to be the Persian Gulf.

But in the past century, and particularly at times of escalating tensions, there have been efforts to exploit the name of the Persian Gulf as a political tool to foment ethnic division. From colonial interests to Arab interests to Iranian interests, the opening of debate regarding the name of the Persian Gulf has been a recent phenomenon that has been exploited for political gain by all sides. Google should not enable these politicized efforts.

In the 1930s, British adviser to Bahrain Sir Charles Belgrave proposed to rename the Persian Gulf, “Arabian Gulf,” a proposal that was rejected by the British Colonial and Foreign offices. Two decades later, the Anglo-Iranian Oil Company resurrected the term during its dispute with Mohammad Mossadegh, the Iranian Prime Minister whose battle with British oil interests would end in a U.S.-sponsored coup d'état that continues to haunt U.S.-Iran relations. In the 1960s, the title “Arabian Gulf” became central to propaganda efforts during the Pan-Arabism era aimed at exploiting ethnic divisions in the region to unite Arabs against non-Arabs, namely Iranians and Israelis. The term was later employed by Saddam Hussein to justify his aims at territorial expansion. Osama Bin Laden even adopted the phrase in an attempt to rally Arab populations by emphasizing ethnic rivalries in the Middle East.

We have serious concerns that Google is now playing into these efforts of geographic politicization. Unfortunately, this is not the first time Google has stirred controversy on this topic. In 2008, Google Earth began including the term “Arabian Gulf” in addition to Persian Gulf as the name for the body of water. NIAC and others called on you then to stop using this ethnically divisive propaganda term, but to no avail. Instead of following the example of organizations like the National Geographic Society, which in 2004 used term “Arabian Gulf” in its maps but recognized the error and corrected it, Google has apparently decided to allow its informational products to become politicized.

Google should rectify this situation and immediately include the proper name for the Persian Gulf in Google Maps and all of its informational products. The exclusion of the title of the Persian Gulf diminishes your applications as informational tools, and raises questions about the integrity and accuracy of information provided by Google.

We strongly urge you to stay true to Google’s mission – “to organize the world’s information and make it universally accessible and useful” – without distorting or politicizing that information. We look forward to an explanation from you regarding the recent removal of the Persian Gulf name from Google Maps and call on you to immediately correct this mistake.

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