Ahmadinejad: 'Regional states can solve Caucuses crisis'

Press TV reports:

Iran's President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has said the Georgian crisis can be solved by the regional countries without any foreign interference.

"The regional countries are able to resolve the issue if countries from outside the region do not interfere in the case," Ahmadinejad said in a press conference in Dushanbe, Tajikistan on Thursday.

"The Islamic Republic enjoys a friendly relation with all the regional nations and has deep ties with Georgians, too. But such a conflict would never have happened if Georgian authorities had not allowed countries from outside the region to interfere in their internal affairs," he added.

Ahmadinejad further pointed out that evidence revealed that Israel had a hand in the Caucuses war.

The Israeli web site Debkafiles, linked with the regime's intelligence and military sources, reported on August 10 that last year, Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili had commissioned from Israeli security firms up to 1,000 military advisers to train the country's armed forces.

According to the report, the Israeli advisors also helped Tbilisi with military intelligence and security operations. Georgia also purchased weapons, intelligence and electronic warfare systems from Israel.

In a meeting with Russian President Dmitry Medvedev, the Iranian President described Western interference as the 'root cause' of conflicts in the region particularly in South Ossetia.