Iran's foreign ministry distanced itself Sunday from Iranian academics who attended a Cairo meeting last week with officials from Israel and other nations to discuss the Middle East peace process.
An unnamed official at the ministry cited by the official IRNA news agency said the meeting had no connection with the Iranian government and stressed Tehran's position on Israel had not changed.
"Iran's stances against the occupying regime of Jerusalem and ongoing developments in the region are very transparent," IRNA said.
An Egyptian non-governmental organization and a US university cosponsored the July 31st-August 1st talks, a former Egyptian ambassador told AFP on Saturday.
He said experts from Israel, Iran and the Arab world met behind closed doors with the US and Israeli ambassadors to discuss the stalled Middle East peace negotiations.
The Iranian experts were Saida Lotfian of the law and political science department in Tehran, Ankara-based instructor Galil Roushendal and Mohamed Gholam of Tehran's National University, said the former ambassador, Tahsin Beshir - TEHRAN (AFP)
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