JERUSALEM-AUSTRIAN FM/ISRAEL Ahead of upcoming Iran visit, Austria's FM meets Israeli counterpart

Record ID: 398456

  • Title: JERUSALEM-AUSTRIAN FM/ISRAEL Ahead of upcoming Iran visit, Austria's FM meets Israeli counterpart
  • Date: 23rd April 2014
  • Summary: EDITORS PLEASE NOTE: RESENDING SCRIPT TO CLARIFY THAT THE LIEBERMAN STATEMENT IN SHOTLIST ITEM 4 REFERS TO THE PRESENT SUPREME LEADER AYATOLLAH ALI KHAMENEI, RATHER THAN THE STATED REFERENCE TO 'AYATOLLAH KHOMENEI', ACCORDING TO SUBSEQUENT CLARIFICATION BY FOREIGN MINISTRY Austrian Foreign Minister Sebastian Kurz meets Israel's Lieberman and lays a wreath at the Yad Va
  • Embargoed: 8th May 2014 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Jerusalem
  • City:
  • Country: Israel
  • Topics: General
  • Reuters ID: LVAE1SWFDEUZJQUINQTWQ60VO986
  • Story Text: Austrian Foreign Minister Sebastian Kurz met his Israeli counterpart Avigdor Lieberman in Jerusalem on Tuesday (April 22), ahead of an expected visit to Iran this week.
    An Austrian Foreign Ministry spokesman said that they will discuss the human rights situation and Iran's nuclear program, and that Kurz would not be accompanied by a business delegation.
    Israel is an enemy of Iran which has condemned its interim nuclear deal with world powers and believes Tehran is on the path to acquiring nuclear weapons - an allegation Iran strenuously denies.
    "We think that Iran is still the same Iran. We saw the last statements of supreme leader Ayatollah Khomenei and he threatens to wipe the state of Israel. Of course he continues to deny the Holocaust, the fact of Holocaust. We see what happens with human rights since Mr. Rouhani was elected as president of Iran," Lieberman said during a news conference in Jerusalem.
    The foreign ministry spokesman Yigal Palmor was asked to clarify the comments by Lieberman and he confirmed in a statement sent to Reuters on Wednesday (April 23) that reads: 'After consulting with FM Lieberman, I can confirm that in his statement yesterday (Tuesday) on Iran, the Minister was referring to the current supreme leader, the Ayatollah Khamenei, and not to anyone else.'
    Under President Hassan Rouhani, a relative moderate who was elected last year, Iran has started to improve relations with the West by engaging with world powers over its disputed nuclear program.
    Austria, a neutral European Union member, was for centuries a bridgehead for Iran to Europe. Lately it has been hosting talks between Tehran and six world powers that seek to expand on an interim deal last year in which Iran agreed to freeze parts of its nuclear program in return for limited relief from sanctions.
    European companies are sizing up the potential of an end to the economic isolation of Iran, attracted by its young population of 76 million people, its urgent need to overhaul its creaking infrastructure, and its massive oil and gas reserves.
    Kurtz arrived in the region on Sunday (April 20) and visited the West Bank as well as Jerusalem's Old City, Israel's Foreign Ministry said.
    He laid a wreath in the Yad Vashem Holocaust Memorial Museum in Jerusalem and is expected to meet Israeli President Shimon Peres later on Tuesday.


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