The Turkish foreign minister assured neighboring Iran on Thursday that the U.S. radar to be deployed in Turkey as part of a NATO missile defense system is not a threat to the Islamic Republic, MNA reported.
"This is for defensive purposes only," Ahmet Davutoglu told reporters at a joint press conference with his Iranian counterpart Ali Akbar Salehi in Tehran.
"We guarantee that this is not a threat to Iran. We would never take any step that could negatively affect our relations with our neighbor," the Turkish foreign minister stated.
"We underlined it very clearly that the missile defense system cannot be directed at any of Turkey's neighbors. NATO documents confirm this. ... There is no reference to Iran in any NATO document as a source of threats," said Davutoglu, according to a translation of his remarks posted on the Turkish Weekly website.
He added, "We would never accept any attack on any of our neighbors from our soil. We don't want such a perception of threat to exist, especially against Iran."