Tehran, January 19, 10 (Hamsayeh.Net) - Yesterday, in a meeting with visiting Georgian Foreign Minister Grigol Vashadze in Tehran Mahmoud Ahmadinajed warned of NATO’s expansion eastward as a threat to regional countries.

 

‘They (NATO) are ready to expend the prestige and [undermine] the national interests of all regional countries’ to serve their own interests, and countries of the region should strengthen their relations in order to prevent outside interference’ Ahmadinejad said.

The Georgian FM said that his country would look forward to expansion of relations with Iran and ‘not act against Iran’ at international organizations. Vashadze also voiced his support for Iran’s nuclear energy program, which some Western countries portray it as a danger to global peace.

 

In another development, only days after the group of 5+1 meeting failed to reach a conclusive agreement on Iranian nuclear issue, German Chancellor Angela Merkel again warned of sanctions soon if Tehran does not accept West’s nuclear proposal.  ‘Germany has made clear that if Iran's reaction does not change, we will be working on a comprehensive package of sanctions, but of course we would prefer it if these (sanctions) could be agreed within the framework of the United Nations Security Council,’ Merkel said at a joint news conference in Berlin.

 

Last Saturday, a long anticipated meeting of the group of 5+1 was held in New York, for which Western countries particularly the United States placed high hopes for reaching final agreements on tougher sanctions against Iran.

 

The US and other western countries participated with their high-ranking officials at the meeting whereas China sent only a low ranking official as a sign of non-urgency over the Iranian nuclear issue. The group of 5+1 countries were thus unable to reach a much-publicized agreement on imposition of severe economic sanctions on Iran.