Ahmadinejad with Saudi King Abdullah
Photo: Reuters
Ahmadinejad denies adopting peace plan
Saudi Arabia's official news agency says Iranian president expressed support for 2002 Arab peace initiative during talks with Saudi officials. Ahmadinejad's office denies report
Saudi Arabia's official news agency reported early Sunday that the Iranian president had expressed support for a 2002 Arab peace initiative during talks with Saudi officials.
Ahmadinejad's office denied the report.
Under the peace plan, adopted in 2002 at the Arab summit in Beirut, Arab countries would normalize relations with Israel in exchange for its withdrawal from Arab lands captured in the 1967 war.
Opinion
Smadar Peri
Saudi Arabia replaces Egypt as leading mediator in Middle East
A spokesman for Ahmadinejad's office said that the Arab peace initiative was not discussed in the Iranian leaders' talks with the Saudi king and with other Saudi officials.
Iran's official Islamic Republic News Agency, in a report carrying statements by President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad on his return to Iran late Saturday following talks with King Abdullah in Saudi Arabia, did not mention the initiative.
The Saudi Press Agency reported early Sunday that Ahmadinejad had said during talks that he was in favor of the plan. The report did not say how the agency had learned of this.
IRNA, the Iranian news agency, reported that Ahmadinejad told journalists talks had dealt with the Palestinians situation and developments in Iraq.
"We have good relations with Saudi Arabia and it was necessary to discuss current developments in world of Islam with officials of the country," IRNA quoted Ahmadinejad as saying.
AFP contributed to the report
