DUSHANBE , July 26, Asia-Plus - Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, heading a high-ranking political-economic delegation, arrived in Dushanbe yesterday afternoon and began talks with Tajik President Emomali Rahmonov on bilateral relationships between Iran and Tajikistan as well as other international and regional issues being of mutual interest.  In the course of the talks the two, in particular, expressed concern about the latest developments in the Near East and stressed the inadmissibility of use of force in settling international problems and called on all international organizations to undertake efforts to promote expeditious settlement of Israeli-Lebanese conflict, which poses a serious threat to the whole region.  

After the talks, Rahmonov and Ahmadinejad gave a short news conference.

Mahmoud Ahmadinejad telling a briefing described the situation in the Near East as a "storm."  He stressed that to attack another country in that way would not solve anything; on contrary, it would the problems more complicated.  The Iranian president said that those who thought that by oppressing a nation they could create a foothold for themselves were making a big mistake. “He who raises the wind will get a hurricane,” Mr. Ahmadinejad said, noting that that  hurricane was just round the corner in the Near East .  

President Rahmonov telling the briefing noted that Tajikistan as a member of the Organization of Islamic Conference (OIC) called for an immediate end to the current fighting in the Near East .  He said that destructive armed operations in Lebanon should be stopped as soon as possible and the problems should be resolved through a political way, taking into account the territorial integrity and independence of Lebanon and the prospect of peace and stability in the Near East.  

            Rahmonov and Ahmadinejad also noted that the situation in the region created important preconditions for further expansion of cooperation between three Persian-speaking states Tajikistan , Iran and Afghanistan .  They noted that tripartite agreements that are supposed to be singed after a tripartite conference in Dushanbe would give a new impulse for further expansion of cooperation between the tree countries.  The also pointed out a significance of future automotive road from Panji Poyon in Tajikistan to the Iranian city of Mashhad via the territory of Afghanistan . 

            The sides also exchanged views on Iranian nuclear program.  President Rahmonov pointed to the importance of cooperation between Iran and International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA).