Tel Aviv  - Officials from both Israel and Iran recently took part in a conference in Cairo on nuclear non-proliferation in the Middle East, the Israel Atomic Energy Commission (IAEC) confirmed Thursday.

However, IAEC spokeswoman Yael Doron said there was "no dialogue or interaction" between the Israeli and Iranian representatives. She gave no further details.

According to the Israeli Ha'aretz daily, the September conference organized by the International Commission on Nuclear Non- Proliferation and Disarmament (ICNND) took place behind closed doors, with participants committed to secrecy.

The daily said there were exchanges between the Israeli representative, Meirav Zafary-Odiz, and Iranian Ali Asghar Soltanieh, but these took place only within three panel sessions.

Zarafy-Odiz refused to reply to the Iranian question of whether Israel possess nuclear weapons. Israel has long refused to confirm or deny reports that it possesses its own atomic arsenal.

Zafary-Odiz said Israel is willing in principle to discuss a nuclear-free Middle East, but regional security must be strengthened, security arrangements must be agreed upon and a peace agreement must be sealed before Israel would consider the topic.

Soltanieh said Iran was not trying to obtain nuclear weapons and not endanger Israel. His country's growing arsenal of missiles was for defensive, not offensive, purposes, he said.

Israel regards Iran as its biggest existential threat, given Tehran's attempts at nuclear armament, and President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's repeated statements that the Jewish state should be wiped off the map.

The ICNND was founded by Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd, and is chaired by a former foreign minister of Australia, Gareth Evans, and former Japanese foreign minister of Japan, Yoriko Kawaguchi.

Also participating in the Cairo conference, according to Ha'aretz, were representatives from the Arab League, Jordan, Egypt, Tunisia, Turkey, Morocco, the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia, as well as European and American officials. (dpa)