Israeli PM secretly met Saudi officials in Amman: press

The meeting, at the palace of Jordan's King Abdullah II, lasted for several hours and focused mainly on Iran's nuclear program and the spread of "Shiite terrorism" in the region, the paper said.

The two sides agreed to share intelligence on the Iranian nuclear program.

According to the paper, Olmert flew to Amman for the nighttime meeting in a helicopter, accompanied by his chief of staff and a top military attache.

The meeting was organized by Abdullah and the chief of Israel's Mossad spy agency, Meir Dagan. The paper did not name the Saudi officials involved.

Last week, Olmert left it understood during a radio interview that he had met a member of the Saudi royal family, as earlier reported by the media.

"We have decided that on this subject, I am going to deliver a denial but you don't have to believe it," said Olmert when probed about press reports that such a meeting took place recently.

"On other matters, believe all my denials," he added.

Yediot Aharonot had reported earlier that Olmert had recently held an unprecedented meeting with an "extremely" senior figure in the Saudi royal house, although the premier later poured cold water on the report.

"I did not meet with the Saudi king and I did not meet with any element which should have caused a sensation in the press," he said.

Following Yediot's original report, Saudi Arabia said contacts between Saudi and Israeli officials were "fabricated".

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