TEHRAN As Tehran and Baku are trying to ease last month tensions over a Caspian Sea dispute, reports said that the U.S. is sending its defense minister to the region.

A governmental Azeri news agency said on Friday that U.S. Defense Undersecretary Jeffry Star announced that Washington was keen to develop its military ties with the Azeri Republic adding that the trip of the U.S. Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld to the Caucusus region was indicating the special importance of the region for the U.S..

Star added that the two countries would discuss their common wealth, Caspian Sea security and southern Caucasia in an upcoming Baku summit.

An Iranian university professor meanwhile criticized the presence of the U.S. in Central Asia adding that the U.S. has been looking for an excuse to justify its presence in the region.

Therefore, Mohammadi said, the U.S. is trying to create tension in the region to find its way to the region, adding that Baku should not let the U.S. find a basis in the above-mentioned areas.

He added that the U.S. is trying to create tension in the region in order to improve its own arms sale and stressed that the regional countries should be wise enough not to be caught in this trap.

In the meantime, an AFP report said that a squadron of Turkish fighter jets will visit Azerbaijan next week in what officials described Friday as a show of support in a dispute between Azerbaijan and Iran over Caspian Sea resources.

An official source in the Foreign Ministry told TEHRAN TIMES that Iran does not consider the Turkish military as a formidable regional force, but nevertheless, the adventurous gesture made by the Turks will not go unanswered in the bilateral relations.

Ten Turkish F-16 fighter jets will be in the Azeri capital, Baku, August 23-25 to coincide with a visit by Hussein Kivrikoglu, chief of staff of the Turkish Army, a Defense Ministry official said.

A senior Azeri government source told AFP on condition of anonymity that the visit was designed to send a message to Iran, with which the Azeris are locked in a tense boundary dispute, that Azerbaijan has Turkey's backing.

Tension between Baku and Tehran over the division of the oil-rich Caspian boiled over last month when an Iranian warship threatened to fire on an Azeri oil research vessel in Iran's territorial waters.

Another report citing the Head of Public Relations Department Novruz Mamedov as saying Thursday said that Azeri President Heydar Aliyev is to visit Iran in second half of September. It quoted the official as saying that the exact date, however, had to be fixed by the two countries.

"The talks are expected to focus on issues of mutual interest," it said, adding Azerbaijan and Iran are due to sign bilateral documents on the results of the visit.

Also, Iran's Foreign Minister Kamal Kharrazi and his Azeri counterpart Vilayat Guliyev discussed on Thursday night issues of interest between the two neighboring Muslim countries as well as the latest developments in the region.

The two officials talked about the scheduled visit of Azerbaijani President Heydar Aliyev to Tehran, the Information and News Department of the Iranian Foreign Ministry said.

Guliyev expressed satisfaction with the settlement of some misunderstandings in Tehran-Baku ties and stressed that the two countries should solve their problems through dialogue.

He asked Iran to send a representative to Baku for consultations with Azeri officials over the Caspian Sea as well as bilateral relations of the two countries.

Kharrazi announced Iran's readiness to hold regular negotiations with Azerbaijan in all levels in order to remove misunderstandings.

He reiterated the need for finding a suitable solution, accepted by all the coastal states, to the issue of the legal status of the Caspian Sea, adding Iranian Deputy Foreign Minister Ali Ahani will soon leave for Baku to confer with Azeri officials over the subject.