TEHRAN (FNA)- Berlin dismissed Israel's protest against a visit to Germany by Iranian Deputy Finance Minister Mohammad Reza Farzin.
Iran's Deputy Minister of Economy and Finance Dr. Mohammad Reza Farzin was the keynote speaker at a Wednesday forum organized by the German Council on Foreign Relations (DGAP).
Farzin's address was scheduled despite official protests by Israel and the anti-Iran terrorist Mojahedin-e Khalq Organization (MKO).
Farzin is one of the top Iranian officials to visit Germany over the past two years.
Israeli papers alleged that the matter of the visit was discussed in a recent meeting between Zionist regime's Deputy Foreign Minister Daniel Ayalon and his German counterparts.
But the funny point is that Berlin's Foreign Ministry had promised to cancel all of the official meetings scheduled for the Iranian minister, while a foreign office spokesman said that "no official meeting was planned, so there was no official meeting to cancel."
"German parliamentarians are free to meet with whomever they choose," he added.
Israel and the Iranian opposition are both angry at the visit because the DGAP receives some of its funding from the German Foreign Ministry.
On Tuesday, Farzin met with Ruprecht Polenz, chairman of the Bundestag's foreign committee and a member of German Chancellor Angela Merkel's ruling party, the CDU/CSU. A statement released after the meeting said the two discussed human and civil rights in Iran.
The Iranian deputy minister was invited to address the conference by DGAP President and former German Ambassador to Tehran Paul von Maltzahn.
A DGAP spokesperson said that the institute "was not pressured to cancel the visit… In any case the DGAP is free to choose its speakers".
