Ahmadinejad warns against NATO talks

TBILISI, Iran, Sept. 17 (UPI) -- Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad says NATO should not interfere with the Caucacus states following Russia's recent incursion in the Republic of Georgia.

Jaap de Hoop Scheffer, chief of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, is heading a delegation of envoys from the 26 members of the military alliance, to Georgia this week, Fars News Agency reported.

The delegates are in Georgia to discuss Tbilisi's possible membership in NATO.

"Countries in the Caucasus region can solve their own problems without the interference of NATO or others," Ahmadinejad said Tuesday at a meeting with Armenian Foreign Minister Edward Nalbandyan.

"Such interference will only worsen the situation in the Caucasus," the Middle Eastern nation's leader said.