This week Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad stated he was ready to cooperate with west in nuclear field, namely build civil nuclear plant and work with International Atomic Energy Agency. The UN prepares to consider sanctions against Iran if the negotiations fail, The Los Angeles Times reports.

However, the daily mentions that this week Iran was “elated” over expanding ties with a “key Middle Eastern power.”

“So which rogue nation is undermining Western efforts to prevent Tehran from obtaining nuclear weapons? Syria, perhaps, or the unpredictable Saudis? Actually, it's Turkey, a member of NATO, prospective member of the European Union and the United States' most strategically important Muslim ally,” the article titled “Turkey flirts with Iran” reads.
“The deals [between Turkey and Iran] are fueling worries that Turkey, a model democratic Muslim state and a vital bridge between Europe and the Arab world, is turning its back on the West to embrace Islamist regimes to the east.

Some of those fears are probably overblown. There's little chance Turkey would jeopardize its ties to the United States and Europe by breaking off relations with Israel.

Another factor is the country's newfound self-confidence. Its economic clout and geopolitical importance have put it in a position to realize long-held desires to be a major player on the world diplomatic stage. Flirting with Iran is a way of asserting independence from the global powers that be,” the daily says.

It became known that Premier Erdogan intends to visit U.S. in December. “But Obama needs to do some lecturing of his own. A nuclear-armed Iran is not in Turkey's interest, and Erdogan's frequent assurances that Tehran is solely interested in an energy program are either laughably naive or dangerously cynical,” the newspaper concludes.