IRAN URGES NEW SECURITY ARRANGEMENTS IN CAUCASIA

Tehran Times
Sept 17 2008
Iran

TEHRAN – Majlis Speaker Ali Larijani said on Tuesday that the Caucasus
region needs "new security arrangements" and called for adopting new
measures to prevent armed conflicts in the region.

Russian tanks, troops and warplanes repelled the Georgian attack on
its South Ossetian allies and drove deep into Georgia in a five-day
war that killed hundreds of people and displaced nearly 200,000.

Georgia has emerged as a major focus of a struggle for influence,
pitting Russia against the United States and the EU amid relations
that have become increasingly frayed over the past decade.

Some analysts are of the opinion that the Georgian attack on South
Ossetia took place with a green light from the White House.

"The events and recent developments in the Caucasus region indicate
that the era of unilateralism has come to an end," Larijani told
visiting Armenian Minister of Foreign Affairs Eduard Nalbandian

Larijani said signing agreements with regional countries on
establishing security in the region can be very effective in allaying
security concerns.

The speaker stated that the Iranian parliament is ready to develop
cooperation with regional countries especially Armenia to help set
up regional alliances.

The Armenian chief diplomat described Iran as an important and great
neighbor.

Nalbandian insisted that regional countries should resolve tension
in the region without the interference of outsiders.

No need for NATO involvement in Caucasia

President Mahmud Ahmadinejad said there is no need for the intervention
of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization in the Caucasus tension.

"To settle differences among regional countries there is no need
for the NATO interference," the president said in a separate meeting
with Nalbandian.

Experience has shown that the Western countries’ intervention in
regional conflicts will make the situation worse, he stated.

Ahmadinejad said expansion of relations between regional countries
will help promote security and peace in the region.

He also said the unipolar system has almost collapsed and its
repercussions are seen in different parts of the world.

Georgia has angered Russia with its drive to join NATO. The alliance
in April declined to take a key step toward membership for Georgia
but assured the nation that it will eventually join.

The NATO leader also condemned Russia’s use of ""disproportional
force"" and emphasized NATO’s demand that Moscow withdraw to positions
its forces held before the fighting erupted, complying with a
cease-fire deal brokered by French President Nicolas Sarkozy.

The unresolved status of South Ossetia and Abkhazia has always given
alliance members pause about accepting Georgia.

Russia has adamantly opposed NATO membership for Georgia, whose
location straddling a key westward energy route for Caspian and Central
Asian oil and gas supplies gives it outsize geopolitical importance.