ANKARA: The Iranian ambassador to Ankara acknowledged Friday that Tehran enjoys close ties with Turkey's intelligence services, a sign of warming relations between the two regional powers.
The comments by Alireza Bikdeli come just weeks after US newspaper claims -- hotly denied by Ankara -- that Turkey blew an Israeli-Iranian spy ring to the authorities in Tehran.
Bikdeli told reporters in Ankara that there was "improved cooperation" between the Iranian intelligence and security services and Turkey's National Intelligence Organisation (MIT).
And he said there were "no grounds" for allegations that Shiite Iran was spying on Turkey, a predominantly Sunni Muslim country.
The Washington Post said in October that Turkey last year revealed to Iranian intelligence the identities of up to 10 Iranians who had been meeting in Turkey with Mossad handlers.
But Turkey angrily rejected the allegations as baseless.