Amman, Dec 13 (DPA) Jordan’s King Abdullah II Sunday received a rare message from Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad inviting him to visit Iran, according to a royal court statement.
The message, which was delivered to the monarch by head of Ahmadinejad’s office Rahim Mashaei, expressed the Iranian leader’s ‘keenness on developing ties between Iran and Jordan in various spheres’, the statement said.
Abdullah underlined the need to meet with Ahmadinejad in the near future – either in Amman or Tehran – to discuss ‘ways for bolstering bilateral ties on clear bases in such a manner that serves the interests of the two peoples, Islamic issues as well as security and stability in the region’, the royal court said.
The discussions during the meeting tackled ‘a number of regional and international issues and means of addressing them in a form that reflects positively on interests of the Islamic nation’, the statement said without giving details.
Relations between Jordan and Iran appeared to have cooled in recent years after King Abdullah warned against the formation of a ‘Shia crescent’ involving Iran, Iraq, Syria and Hezbollah in Lebanon.
However, Abdullah repeatedly called for a diplomatic solution to the Iranian nuclear issue and warned against the dangerous repercussions of military action.
