Turkish PM arrives in Iran for bilateral ties

TEHRAN - Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan arrived in Iran's capital of Tehran for an official visit and talks on bilateral ties and regional issues, local media reported on Wednesday.

Erdogan, who arrived here late Tuesday night, leads a high- ranking delegation and is scheduled to hold talks with the Iranian President Hassan Rouahni, First Vice President Es'haq Jahangiri and the Iranian Supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.

The visit comes after a recent interim nuclear deal between the world powers and Iran, which paved way for partial removal of western economic sanctions against the Islamic republic.

The Turkish prime minister will deliver a speech at International Institute of the Iranian Foreign Ministry.

The two sides will sign an agreement to establish a high level cooperation council between the two countries in a bid to improve economic relations of Ankara and Tehran.

The two countries work to increase bilateral trade up to $30 billion by 2015 from 13.5 billion dollars in 2013.

However, David Cohen, the US secretary for terrorism and financial intelligence, held talks with Turkish officials in Ankara on Monday, warning companies to "hold off" making business with Iran because sanctions are still in place.