Davutoglu’s meeting with Saeed Jalili implies that Turkey wants to revive its role as mediator between Iran and the West
Amid political mobility in the region and all the tensions taking root, Turkey’s Foreign Minister tackled several regional developments with Iranian officials during his visit to Iran which started on Wednesday.
A press conference between the Turkish FM and his Iranian counterpart Ali Akbar Salehi was held Thursday afternoon. It was scheduled for Wednesday hours after the Turkish minister arrived but later had been delayed.
Davutoglu said that the Turkish-Iranian relationships are historic and strong enough to face anytime challenges. The Turkish FM said he discussed the Iraqi situation with Iranian officials and hoped the crisis there would end soon. Concerning the nuclear standoff, Davutoglu said he noticed a positive response from Iranian politicians concerning the P5+1 talks and added that NATO's missile shield is not a threat any country.
For his part, Salehi said Iran is "not concerned" about EU moves to ban Iranian oil imports and will survive them as it has other Western measures. "Iran has always been ready to counter such hostile actions and we are not
concerned at all about the sanctions," he said adding that the Iranians have taken provisional measures. "We have weathered the storm for the past 32 years and we will be able to survive this as well," Salehi said.
Davutoglu met Iranian Vice President Mohammad Reza Rahimi and Salehi separately upon his arrival. He is set to meet with Iran’s top nuclear negotiator Saeed Jalili and other Iranian parliamentarians including Majlis Speaker Ali Larijani who is scheduled to make an official visit to turkey next Wednesday, Al-Manar TV correspondent reported from Tehran.
Iranian newspapers said the Turkish FM’s meetings tackled regional developments, the nuclear program and the situation in neighboring Syria and Iraq.
At the time his meeting with Rahimi signals a political message, Davutoglu’s nuclear meeting with Saeed Jalili implies that he has a nuclear message that there is a Turkish attempt to resume its mediator role between Iran and the West, especially that the last nuclear talks took place in Turkey. This comes after mutual letters between EU’s Foreign Policy Chief Catherine Ashton and Jalili. On the eve of his Tehran visit, the top diplomat issued warning on the threat of a region-wide ‘Cold War’ if sectarian tensions are not defused.
On the eve of his Tehran visit, the top diplomat issued warning on the threat of a region-wide ‘Cold War’ if sectarian tensions are not defused.
Davutoglu is expected to have talks with Iraqi Muslim Cleric Sayyed Moqtada Sadr. The request for the surprise meeting came from Sadr, according to the report by private news agency Cihan.
Concerning the EU’s oil embargo, Iran was taking its precautionary measures. Iran’s Oil Minister said the Islamic Republic has enough reserves to produce oil for the next 100 years, while most countries will lose their reserves in the next 30 years. The minister added that Iran's in-place oil reserves have been estimated to be at 600 billion barrels, adding that the country ranks first in terms of total oil and gas reserves.
Iran said it can find alternative routes for selling its oil reserves. This would mean it would export oil to the East of Asia, China, Africa and Latin America where the Iranian FM and President traveled to last year. Iran produces about 3.5 million barrels daily. One million barrel is being refined for internal consumption so about 2.5 million barrel is being exported. European countries and Union’s share from this oil is about 20% only, it can easily be replaced.
EU’s decision was in response to the Iranian Velayat-90 maneuvers which ended on Monday. Iran conveyed through its maneuvers a message that it has shifted from the defensive phase to the ability to retaliate to any military attack. Iran will confront any threat with a threat and an oil embargo will be faced with an oil embargo. It’s the “tit for tat” new Iranian policy.
