Tehran gives green light to Turkish mediaion with Washington

At a press conference yesterday, Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Hasan Qashqavi spoke about Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan's proposal that Turkey could mediate between the US and Iran. The proposal stems "from Turkish goodwill and good and growing neighborly ties between Iran and Turkey, so we will certainly not raise any obstacles," he said. Qashqavi added, however, that the problems between Iran and the US "go beyond the usual political problems between two countries," and that Washington has had a negative attitude towards Tehran since the Iranian revolution 30 years ago. US President-elect Barack Obama "has come forward with slogans and now we will have to see whether the change in orientation is serious or not," he said.