MOSCOW, December 16 (RIA Novosti) – Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has canceled a planned visit to Turkey, one day after the head of Iran’s military said the deployment of Patriot air defense systems to Turkey could trigger a world war, Turkish Today’s Zaman said on Sunday.
NATO is deploying the Patriots to Turkey’s border with Syria – along with the troops to serve them, including US soldiers – at Ankara’s request.
Ahmadinejad had accepted Turkish Prime Minister Recep Erdogan's invitation to attend a ceremony on Monday in Konya Province commemorating the 739th anniversary of the death of the 13th century Persian poet and Sufi mystic Jalaluddin Rumi.
Turkish diplomatic sources told Today’s Zaman that Ahmadinejad canceled the trip over an unspecified scheduling conflict. The paper did not receive any comment from the Iranian side.
On Saturday the chief of staff of Iran’s armed forces, Maj. Gen. Seyed Hassan Firouzabadi, said the planned deployment of Patriot missiles to the Turkish-Syrian border threatened a world war.
The Patriot systems in Turkey, which will remain under NATO command, will include several batteries from the US, Germany and the Netherlands.
