TEHRAN: Atomic chief Ali Akbar Salehi officially took charge Saturday as Iran's new foreign minister and said Tehran's top priority will be to boost ties with regional power Saudi Arabia and Turkey. Salehi, who oversees Iran's controversial nuclear program, was named as interim foreign minister after his predecessor, Manouchehr Mottaki, was sacked by President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad on Dec. 13. “Iran's first priority in diplomacy should be neighbors and the Islamic world. In this regard, Saudi Arabia and Turkey have a special position,” Salehi, a fluent Arabic and English speaker, was quoted as saying by Mehr news agency after he took charge of the ministry. “Saudi Arabia deserves to have special political ties with Iran. Iran and Saudi Arabia, as two effective countries in the Islamic world, can resolve many problems together.” Ties between Iran and Turkey have grown in recent months with Ankara even endorsing a nuclear fuel deal for Tehran in May, along with Brazil. Turkey is also hosting the next round of talks between Iran and the six world powers in Istanbul, following the last negotiation held in Geneva on Dec. 6 and 7. Turkey has repeatedly called for sustained diplomacy to resolve Iran's nuclear controversy. “Turkey is a powerful country with strategic position and shares common cultural and ideological grounds with Iran,” Salehi said. Salehi, 61, said Iran and the European Union too would “benefit” if the EU switched its position towards Tehran from “confrontation to engagement as soon as possible.” “Despite some unfair moves by the European Union, this union wants respectful ties with Iran for a number of reasons, including energy,” he said.
