Iran Denies Invitation

Mon., Jan. 13, 1997

Compiled From Wire Services

The Israeli fencing team says it received an invitation from Iran - a sworn enemy of the Jewish state - to take part in an international fencing competition in Tehran.

The head of Israel’s fencing association, however, said he thought the invitation came only to meet International Federation of Fencing tournament rules that all members must be invited to competitions.

“They did this so that they can fulfill their obligation,” Moshe Ben-Ezra said Sunday. “I don’t know how seriously they intended the invitation.”

The invitation on Iranian Fencing Federation stationery arrived Friday in an envelope from the international federation’s offices in Paris. It was signed by Mohammed Zadeh, vice-president of the Iranian federation.

An official in Iranian President Hashemi Rafsanjani’s office denied the Israeli team was invited.

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Iran Denies Invitation

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