Iran offers mediation between Russia and Georgia

PanARMENIAN.Net - Iran's Deputy Foreign Minister for Educational and Research Affairs Manuchehr Mohammadi expressed Iran's protest to the extension of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization to the East.



Mohammadi said the regional governments should distance themselves from competitive and hostile policies which have remained from the cold war era.



"NATO's presence in a region it is not familiar with would not be to its benefit because it has already experienced an unsuccessful presence in Iraq and Afghanistan," he said.



U.S. President George W. Bush signed papers Friday to formally declare U.S. support of NATO membership for Albania and Croatia. Bush also reiterated U.S. support for prospective NATO members Ukraine, Georgia, Montenegro, and Bosnia-Herzegovina. Bush added, "The door to NATO membership also remains open to the people of Serbia should they choose that path."



NATO leaders agreed at a summit earlier this year in Romania to invite Albania and Croatia into the alliance. However, NATO rebuffed U.S. attempts to begin the process of inviting Ukraine and Georgia, both former Soviet republics, to join.



Despite strong U.S. backing to bring them in, Germany, France, and some other alliance members opposed the move, fearing it would provoke Russia which has made it clear it would regard such a move as something close to a hostile action by NATO.



France's minister for European affairs on Wednesday said he was opposed to Georgia and Ukraine entering the NATO military alliance for now because it would not benefit Europe.



NATO foreign ministers are set to once again examine Georgia and Ukraine's candidacy for membership in December.



Russia launched a military attack on Georgia on August 8 in response to a Georgian military offensive to take the region of South Ossetia back under the government control.



Mohammadi said the recent conflict between Russia and Georgia is one of the most important events since the September 11 attacks on the United States which would have a great influence on the international relations.



He said the 16th conference of the Central Asia and Caucasus, due to be held in Tehran this week, will specifically focus on the Caucasus conflict and its effects on the world.



Mohammadi said experts from different countries including the United States, Britain, Armenia, Ukraine, Germany, Italy, Russia, India, Sweden, Georgia, Japan, Turkey, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, and Poland will attend the conference.



He insisted that Iran believes the Caucasus conflict has not yet ended and expressed Tehran's readiness to mediate between Russia and Georgia to resolve the issue, Tehran Times reports.