Goodwill moment over

The brief bond between Iran and Israel over helping victims of last Sunday's air crash in Phuket was curtly killed by the Iranian ambassador to Thailand, who even denied it had ever existed.

"The Islamic Republic of Iran does not recognise the Zionist regime let alone seek their assistance," said ambassador Mohsen Pakaein in a statement issued late on Saturday to an official Iranian news agency.

Iranian officials are not allowed to use the word "Israel".

The ambassador was clearly upset about news reports last week that officers from the Israeli embassy in Bangkok had offered help to chief Iranian consular official Safdar Shafiee.

"It's human nature to help in solving this problem as soon as possible," Mr Shafiee had told Yaki Oved, head representative of Israeli police in Southeast Asia and the Pacific.

Oved had replied that, "In situations like this, you forget the division. The main thing is to help. You don't think about the politics."

Six Israelis and 18 Iranians were among the 89 people killed in the crash of a One-Two-Go Airlines MD-82 in foul weather at Phuket International airport on Sept 16. Both nations' embassies in Bangkok responded quickly to the scene, as well as Iranian representatives already present at their consulate in Phuket.

Several news reports mentioned the rare Israel-Iran cooperation, but ambassador Pakaein was particularly incensed by a detailed report by the Associated Press which was played by media worldwide.

It described the Shafiee-Oved moment, and carried other details of Iran-Israeli cooperation, especially in finding injured survivors of the crash in the various Phuket hospitals and morgues.

An Israeli paramedic, Assi Debilinski, told reporters how he had come upon an injured Iranian in a hospital room.

"In the room next to the Israeli victims was an Iranian citizen, who had managed to escape ... I approached him to ask him if he needed anything and if I could help him in any way. He politely rejected my offer of help and thanked me for offering it."

But the Iranian ambassador went further, denying all eyewitness reports of any contact between Iranians and "the Zionists" on the crash day.

"The identification operation was totally conducted by Iranian and Thai officials as well as Thai tour and travel agencies," the official Islamic Republic News Agency (IRNA) quoted him as telling Iranian media at its nearest office in Kuala Lumpur on Saturday.