Iran dismisses Turkish mediation needed for improving U.S. relations

"There is no need for mediation," Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad was quoted by Reuters as telling reporters after talks in Tehran with regional leaders including Turkish President Abdullah Gul.Â

 

"Our stances our clear: if there is justice and respect no issue would remain in the world," he added.

 

Turkey has said it would weigh any requests by both Iran and the United States to serve as a mediator between the two sides after U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said Washington would seek Ankara’s assistance for Obama's plan to engage Tehran.

 

The United States has said it intended to invite Iran to an international meeting later this month to discuss the situation in Afghanistan, which is struggling with an Islamist insurgency.

 

The U.S. and Iran have not had diplomatic ties for three decades and are now embroiled in a row over Tehran's nuclear program. The West suspects Iran of trying to build a nuclear bomb under guise of a peaceful atomic energy program, a charge Tehran rejects.

 

Iran's top authority also said the new U.S. administration was showing no sign of trying to correct its predecessor's "big mistakes" in the region, including Afghanistan, Reuters reported on its website citing Iranian media.

 

Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei made his comments at a meeting with visiting Gul, whose country recently said it was working to create "better understanding" between the United States and Iran.

 

Khamenei has final say on matters of state, including foreign relations.

 

"In the cases of Afghanistan and Iraq, the American government made a big mistake and the stance of the current American government on the issue of Gaza is one of America's other big mistakes," the official IRNA news agency quoted Khamenei as telling Gul on Tuesday night.

 

"The American government is continuing the same previous path and there is no sign of efforts to make up for the mistakes," Khamenei added.

 

GUL EXPRESSES OPTIMISM

The Turkish president expressed optimism that the ties between the U.S. and Iran will improve as both countries have the good will for bettering relations.

 

Turkey's President Abdullah Gul met his Iranian counterpart Ahmadinejad and Khamenei in Tehran, where he came to attend the Economic Cooperation Organization (ECO) summit. Â

 

 

"An atmosphere of confidence can be created with behaviors that show that you are sincere," he was quoted by Anatolian Agency as telling reporters after his meetings.

 

The world had entered a new process in international politics and relations after the presidential election in the United States, Gul said.

 

"The former U.S. administration was applying a method and style in which it was making unilateral decisions, implementing them unilaterally when necessary, and imposing its views when necessary," he said. Â

 

He said the new U.S. administration was pursuing a very different method from the previous one, and defined the Obama team as one that said and showed that it would listen to every one, be multilateral, get recommendations from every one, and establish dialogue regarding problems.

 

PALESTINE VISIT
The Turkish president also told reporters in Tehran that he could visit Israel and Palestine if the appropriate circumstances were in place, but a visit was not likely at present.

He also welcomed the planned visit of U.S. President Barack Obama to Turkey on April 6-7. "If we lay the rails well at the beginning, then we can go a long way on those rails," he said.

Gul said Turkey and the United States were cooperating in line with their best interests, and added Turkish-U.S. relations were progressing on a strong ground for some time and they would become more fruitful.

He also said Turkish foreign policy was not one that was fulfilling initiatives that were imposed, but one that discussed what was said and made impositions when necessary.