Ahmadinejad hails Erdogan's nuclear support

Erdogan accused Western powers of treating Iran unfairly over its nuclear programme.

President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad on Tuesday welcomed visiting Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan's defence of the Iranian nuclear programme.

Ahmadinejad in talks with Erdogan, the presidential website reported, said he "appreciates" Erdogan's stand on Iran's controversial atomic programme and on Israel, believed to be the Middle East's sole but undeclared nuclear state.

- When an illicit regime possesses nuclear arms, one can not talk about depriving other nations from the peaceful nuclear programme - he said.

- Your clear stance towards the Zionist regime had a positive effect in the world, especially the Islamic world, and I am sure that everyone was satisfied - Ahmadinejad added.

Erdogan accused Western powers of treating Iran unfairly over its nuclear programme, in a British newspaper interview published on Monday in which he referred to the Iranian president as a "friend".

Speaking to The Guardian newspaper, the prime minister downplayed Western concerns that Iran wants to build nuclear weapons as "gossip" and implied that the accusers were guilty of hypocrisy.

UN Security Council permanent members - all have nuclear arsenals and then there are countries which are not members of the International Atomic Energy Agency which also have nuclear weapons - he said, apparently referring to Israel.

- So although Iran doesn't have a weapon, those who say Iran shouldn't have them are those countries which do- Erdogan said.

According to the president's website, Erdogan reiterated to Ahmadinejad his support for nuclear disarmament. - Those who call for disarmament in the world should start with themselves - he was quoted as saying.

Before meeting with Ahmadinejad, Erdogan held talks with Iran's First Vice President Mohammad Reza Rahimi who said the two sides should "consolidate their current relations."

- The circumstances in both nations has created a golden opportunity, and by using this opportunity we should consolidate more our existing relations - Rahimi said, quoted by Mehr news agency.

Rahimi also commended Erdogan's stance on Israel as a - valuable act in defending the rights of the Palestinian people. -

The long-time regional allies have been experiencing simmering tensions over Turkey's exclusion of the Jewish state from joint military exercises earlier this month.

Turkey has said bilateral ties will continue to suffer unless Israel ends "the humanitarian tragedy" in the Gaza Strip and revives peace talks with the Palestinians.

Erdogan, who arrived in the Islamic republic at the head of a high-ranking political and business delegation on Monday, is also expected to hold talks with the country's supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.

Turkey, a NATO member, has in recent years improved links with Iran, its eastern neighbour, and has sought to help resolve the nuclear dispute between its Western allies and Tehran.

Iranian-Turkish annual trade stands at around 12 billion dollars and the two states aim to expand it to 20 billion dollars in the next two years, according to Iran's state news agency IRNA