Iranian president, Turkish premier discuss political crisis in Lebanon

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and Turkish Prime Minister Recep
Tayyip Erdogan had a telephone conversation on the crisis in Lebanon,
Mehr reports.

Ahmadinejad said that Iran will do its best to resolve the situation
in Lebanon. He urged other countries of the region to support a
dialogue.

Erdogan said that Turkey wants Iran to hold talks with Lebanese
political groups. He also said that Turkish Minister of Foreign
Affairs Ahmet Davutoglu had negotiations with officials from Qatar and
Lebanon and expressed hope that Iran will solve the problems in
Lebanon in the near future.

The crisis in Lebanon was caused by disagreements between the
opposition supported by Syria and Iran and the ruling coalition headed
by Saad Hariri, supported by the West and the Saudi Arabia, concerning
the investigation of the murder of Rafik Hariri, father of the
premier, in 2005, RIA Novosti reports.

Hezbollah is expected to be accused of the murder. The organization
denies the accusations and calls the Special Tribunal for Lebanon an
instrument of the USA-Israeli pressure on the Lebanese resistance
movement.

Syria and Saudi Arabia have been trying for half a year to find a
formula to cope with the crisis. However, the opposition said that
efforts of Damascus and Riyadh have reached a stalemate, left the
government, causing a collapse.

Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, Emir of Qatar Hamad bin Khalifa Al
Thani and Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan said after a
meeting in Damascus on Monday that resolving the crisis in Lebanon
needs return to the Syrian-Saudi initiative. Saudi Arabia declined to
be a mediator