Turkish Daily News: "US cold to 'Turkish mediation' on Iran"

U.S. President George W. Bush's administration welcomes Turkey's suggestions involving the ongoing crisis over Iran's nuclear program but does not want Ankara's mediation between Washington and Tehran, U.S. officials said. Asked about Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdo?an's plans to visit Washington for talks to pursue a diplomatic solution, U.S. State Department spokesman Sean McCormack said Wednesday that the American side would welcome discussions on Iran but that a specific proposal for Turkey's mediation was not on the table.

"We welcome the input of other countries from around the globe who have an interest in seeing that Iran is not able to obtain nuclear weapons, or the know-how, or the technology to produce nuclear weapons," McCormack told reporters. Recalling that U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and Turkey's leaders talked about Iran during her visit to Ankara in late April, McCormack said, "We welcome discussions with our Turkish colleagues on Iran and welcome their suggestions."

Asked to comment on a possible Turkish role for mediation, McCormack said, "In terms of mediation, you have to define what you're talking about. I am not aware of any specific proposal that's on the table." Another U.S. administration source told the Turkish Daily News that U.S. Ambassador to Ankara Ross Wilson already had made clear that Washington did not want or see a need for Turkish mediation with Iran. "There's no change in Washington's position," the source said.

"Neither we nor anybody else are looking for an intermediary," Wilson told Turkish reporters in Washington on March 29. "We're not looking for Turkey for that role."

Washington also refuses to hold direct talks with Tehran, with McCormack saying last week, "Our view at this point is that there are plenty of channels of communication if the Iranians want to pass information to us or we want to pass information to them."

One analyst said there was a widespread belief in Washington that in recent talks with Erdo?an and his lieutenants, top Iranian officials, including President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, had been encouraging a mediation role for Turkey but that the Bush administration does not welcome this.

"It's believed here that (Iran's top nuclear negotiator) Ali Larijani promoted this idea during a recent visit to Ankara. Also, Erdo?an met twice with Ahmadinejad recently, in Azerbaijan and in Indonesia, when the Iranian president likely called for Turkey's mediation," said the analyst. "Washington doesn't like the idea, it doesn't want such additional platforms that would be manipulated and used by the Iranians." In a related development, the United States said on Wednesday that it would not give security guarantees to Iran in exchange for quitting its nuclear program.

"That's not something from the United States that's on the table," McCormack said when asked about European willingness to present Iran with incentives tied to security. He recalled Bush's oft-repeated remarks that "all options are on the table," including a military one.

Ahmadinejad on Wednesday rejected a latest offer from Europe to halt uranium enrichment in exchange for incentives, including a light-water reactor, likening the proposal to an adult's deceptive enticement to a naive child.

"Your incentives are definitely not more valuable than nuclear technology," he said during a speech in the central city of Arak. "How dare you tell our people to give up its gold in return for chocolate?"

McCormack declined to comment on the reported European offer for a light-water reactor.

Most analysts believe that the Bush administration's real objective is regime change in Iran, although this so far has not been Washington's official policy. The United States and its Western allies accuse Iran of seeking to obtain nuclear weapons. Teh

By Umit Enginsoy

/www.turkishdailynews.com.tr/