Iran denies contacts with Israel, prepares to develop its Arab relations

The Iranian Foreign Ministry on Thursday denied a report issued by the Israeli daily Yediot Ahronot that a meeting was held between the Iranian ambassador and Israeli ambassador to Finland.

The Iranian ministry added that Israel tries to approach and contact the Iranian officials by any means and that the Iranian officials refuse to meet or make a dialogue with the Israeli officials on all levels.

The Iranian ministry asserted that Iran's policy will not be changed concerning the "Zionist entity."

The spokesman for the Iranian Foreign Ministry, Hamid Rida Asifi, remarked that Arab-Iranian relations will enter, following the recent legislative election, a new phase which will be inaugurated this year by resuming Iranian- Egyptian relations.

Meanwhile, the Orient Radio correspondent in Tehran said that this comment came just hours following the meeting held between Iranian President Muhammad Khatami and the chairman of the office for supervising Iranian interests in Cairo and the assertion of the Iranian president on the importance of relations between Egypt and Iran.

In a similar context, the radio report added that the severed Iranian- Algerian relations will witness rapid improvement toward their resumption.

The correspondent continued that hopes are pinned on finding an outlet to the crisis over three Gulf islands between Iran and the United Arab Emirates, adding that the atmosphere in this regard has become encouraging after Abu Dhabi has appointed a new ambassador in Tehran and in the light of exchanging positive signals between the two countries, after the reformists won the recent legislative election in Iran.