Tens of thousands of Turkish troops were poised Tuesday on the border with Iraq awaiting the order to attack Kurdish fighters, and President Abdullah Gul said the country will do “what it believes to be right” to tame the rebels.

Expansion of all-out relations with all the neighboring and friendly countries sets the main policy of the Islamic Republic, Iranian Defense Minister Mostafa Mohammad Najjar said.

The new ambassador of Cyprus met with Iranian Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki here on Tuesday.