Turkey's overseas minister sees potential for US-Iran back-channel talks

[ad_1] ANKARA, Turkey (AP) — Turkey’s highly effective overseas minister stated Saturday that there is no such thing as a critical initiative to renew negotiations between the United States and Iran however that he believes Iran is open to back-channel talks.

The feedback by International Minister Hakan Fidan to The Related Press in an unique interview got here as Ankara is striving to remain out of the widening battle within the Center East.

Ankara, which has good relations with each Washington and Tehran, had tried to mediate an answer between them earlier than the U.S. and Israel attacked Iran two weeks in the past, triggering the battle.

“The situations aren't very a lot conducive” to diplomacy now, Fidan stated. The Iranians “really feel betrayed” as a result of for a second time they had been attacked whereas in energetic negotiations with the U.S. over their nuclear program, he stated, however added, “I feel they're open to any smart back-channel diplomacy.”

Fidan, 57, served as Turkey’s intelligence chief for greater than a decade earlier than being appointed overseas minister in 2023.

Key position in formulating Turkey’s Center East coverage In that position, he performed a key half in shaping Turkey’s coverage within the Center East, significantly towards Syria , Iraq and Iran. He's thought-about to be one among President Recep Tayyip Erdogan ’s most trusted advisers and one of many potential candidates to succeed him.

Turkey has maintained a impartial place within the battle, criticizing each the united statesand Israeli strikes towards Iran and Tehran’s retaliatory actions towards Gulf states that host U.S. bases. Fidan stated he has been trying to influence the Iranians to halt these assaults.

Fidan stated Turkey’s high precedence is to stay exterior of the battle, even after three missiles believed to return from Iran had been intercepted over Turkey by NATO defenses. Turkey is a NATO member and an air base in southern Turkey is utilized by NATO forces, together with U.S. troops.

Iranian officers have insisted that they didn't hearth at Turkey, though the out there information exhibits that the missiles got here from Iran, the Turkish overseas minister stated.

He dominated out a army response at this stage, saying that NATO’s defenses had been efficient and that Ankara’s “major goal” is to remain out of the battle.

“I do know that we're being provoked and we will probably be provoked, however that is our goal,” he stated. “We need to keep out of this battle.”

Fidan, who has common contact with Iranian officers, stated he doesn't know the severity of the injuries suffered by Iran’s new Supreme Chief Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei in a strike earlier within the battle, however that “what we all know is that he's alive and functioning.”

Khamenei was appointed to switch his father, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei , who was killed Feb. 28 through the battle’s opening salvo.

Fidan stated “the method of electing a brand new chief and the medical situations of the brand new chief, it created a niche” in Iran’s energy construction and “I feel that hole has been crammed by the excessive command of the Revolutionary Guards,” referring to the paramilitary power reporting to the Supreme Chief.

A failed peace initiative Earlier than the battle, Turkey tried to avert a battle by providing to host talks in Istanbul that might have introduced U.S., Iran and different regional nations collectively. Iran later opted for talks mediated by Oman, with out the participation of regional actors and focusing solely on its nuclear program — talks that finally failed.

Fidan stated that Iran had refused to debate its missile program and the proxy armed teams it backs within the area, together with the Lebanese Hezbollah and a gaggle of Iraqi militias — each of which have now waded into the regional battle.

Turkey had proposed that “the Individuals and the Iranians can focus on absolutely the nuclear problem and we as regional nations can come collectively to debate the opposite two with Iran” as a part of an initiative to construct belief throughout the area.

Tensions with Israel Turkey and Israel have tense relations, with Erdogan turning into one of the vocal critics of Israel’s actions in Gaza . Turkey has minimize commerce ties with Israel and ceaselessly accuses Israel of committing genocide. Israel in flip accuses Turkey of supporting Hamas, the Palestinian militant group that launched the lethal Oct. 7, 2023 assault in southern Israel.

Since Israel launched its strikes on Iran, some have gone so far as to recommend that Turkey may very well be the following goal. Fidan dismissed that risk, whereas acknowledging that the battle in Iran gave Turkey an elevated incentive to step up its personal manufacturing of weapons and air defenses.

“So long as Netanyahu is there, (Israel) will at all times determine someone as an enemy,” he stated. “As a result of they want it to advance their very own agenda. If not Turkey, they might identify another nation within the area.”

He criticized Israel’s position elsewhere within the area, together with in Syria, the place each nations have strategic pursuits.

Turkey has been a robust backer of the present authorities in Damascus led by interim President Ahmad al-Sharaa, the previous chief of an Islamist insurgent group.

Israel regards al-Sharaa’s authorities with suspicion and, because it took energy in December 2024, Israeli forces have seized management of a swathe of land in southern Syria and launched airstrikes on Syrian army amenities, wiping out a lot of the nation’s arsenal. Israel has stated its presence in Syria is supposed to safe its border from one other Oct. 7-style assault.

“They're after not safety, they're after extra land,” Fidan stated. “So so long as they don’t quit this concept, there'll at all times be a battle within the Center East.”

An ongoing position in Gaza Turkey has additionally sought to play an energetic position in postwar Gaza. It has joined U.S. President Donald Trump’s Board of Peace — boycotted by many different nations that see it as an try and supplant the United Nations and criticize the dearth of a task for Palestinians — and has provided to provide troops for a global stabilization power within the battered enclave.

Fidan stated it was necessary for Turkey to affix the Board of Peace, as an “alternative” to cease the battle, though “we aren't underneath the phantasm that the Board of Peace will handle all the present points.”

Fidan stated Turkey has not obtained a request to contribute troops to the stabilization power, which he attributed to the Israeli opposition, however added, “I feel the Individuals are quietly attempting to settle the problem with the Israelis to permit Turkey to take part.”

Fidan stated nonetheless, that Turkey’s precedence was the institution of an administration committee for Gaza, which is to be made up of 15 politically impartial Palestinian directors.

“We anticipate them to enter Gaza and begin their work,” he stated. “This has not began but, so we have to begin from someplace.”

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