Turkey would offer to mediate between Washington and Tehran during a visit by Iran’s foreign minister today, officials said yesterday, as Ankara considers reinforcing security along its border should the dispute escalate.
The visit by Iranian Minister of Foreign Affairs Abbas Araghchi comes after US President Donald Trump threatened a military strike on Iran over its deadly protest crackdown earlier this month.
A US naval strike group arrived in Middle East waters on Monday with Trump warning it was “ready, willing and able” to hit Iran “if necessary.”
Photo: Majid Asgaripour, West Asia News Agency via Reuters
Turkish Minister of Foreign Affairs Hakan Fidan would tell Araghchi that his country “is ready to contribute to resolving the current tensions through dialogue,” a Turkish diplomatic source said.
Fidan would reiterate Turkey’s opposition “to military interventions against Iran ... [over] the regional and global risks such a step would entail,” the source said, requesting anonymity because of the sensitivity of the talks.
The minister on Wednesday stressed the need for Washington and Tehran to resume discussions over the Iranian nuclear program, suggesting that was the top priority to be resolved.
“It’s wrong to attack Iran. It’s wrong to start the war again. Iran is ready to negotiate on the nuclear file again,” Fidan had told al-Jazeera television.
Alongside its diplomatic push, Ankara is assessing additional security precautions along its border with Iran if a US strike destabilizes the country, a senior Turkish official said.
“If the United States attacks Iran and the regime falls, Turkey is planning additional measures to reinforce border security,” said the official, who also requested anonymity.
Araghchi on Wednesday warned that its forces would respond immediately and forcefully to any US military operation, but did not rule out a new deal on Tehran’s nuclear program.
Iran’s forces have their “fingers on the trigger” to “powerfully respond” to any US strikes, Araghchi said, but also used language strikingly similar to Trump’s to describe a possible agreement to defuse the standoff through a new nuclear deal.
“Iran has always welcomed a mutually beneficial, fair and equitable NUCLEAR DEAL — on equal footing, and free from coercion, threats, and intimidation — which ensures Iran’s rights to PEACEFUL nuclear technology, and guarantees NO NUCLEAR WEAPONS,” Araghchi wrote on X.
Hours earlier, Trump had warned that a “massive armada” of US naval vessels was heading to waters off Iran and ready “to rapidly fulfil its mission, with speed and violence, if necessary.”
However, mirroring Trump’s language, Araghchi added: “Hopefully Iran will quickly ‘Come to the Table’ and negotiate a fair and equitable deal — NO NUCLEAR WEAPONS — one that is good for all parties.”
After Trump issued his latest threat, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said the Iranian leadership was at its weakest ever point, while German Chancellor Friedrich Merz predicted the Islamic republic’s “days are numbered” after this month’s deadly crackdown on anti-government protests.
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