Turkey has warned Donald Trump off launching further attacks on Iran.
Amid multiplying news reports that the US president is planning to hit the Islamic Republic hard with military strikes after the American midterm term elections (Tuesday, November 3), Ankara sent a loud and clear message to Washington: “Don’t”.
What’s more, in sending out the warning on October 23, Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan said he had the backing of Germany, France, Britain, Italy, Egypt, Pakistan and Saudi Arabia.
After meeting his counterparts from those seven countries in Istanbul, Fidan said at a press conference: "We are all in agreement that a new attack on Iran would expand the war in the region."
He added: "A military intervention on Iran is not in any way a solution. Nobody approves this at the moment.”
Diplomacy and dialogue were the only way to end the war between the US/Israel and Iran, Fidan stressed.
The meeting of the eight foreign ministers was the first collective meeting of what are known as the Regional Four (R4) and the EU 3 (E3), alongside Italy.
The top diplomats gathered to discuss developments in the Iran war as well as attacks on Saudi Arabia by Iran-backed Houthi militants and Russia's war in Ukraine.
British Foreign Secretary Ed Miliband told ITN in a TV interview that the “very clear message” is that “diplomacy, dialogue and de-escalation has to be the answer to this conflict, and frankly this conflict has gone on too long, the British people have suffered too much from it and we cannot afford months more of it.”
French Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot told reporters that if the conflict escalated it would only produce losers and higher oil prices.
A New York Times report on October 21 said that the US and Israeli militaries had drawn up detailed plans for renewed strikes against Iran after the US midterm elections. It cited US officials as saying that likely targets would include Iran's energy infrastructure, nuclear facilities and missile and drone arsenal.
IntelliNews reported on October 22 that among the retaliatory strikes that Iran could launch in response to another military campaign by the US and Israel could be hits on cables, data centres and artificial intelligence (AI) assets in the Middle East that are owned wholly or partly by US investors and interests.
Reuters reported that Fidan also said that the meeting of foreign ministers discussed possible parameters to ensure the war does not expand further, but did not elaborate.
German Foreign Minister Johann Wadephul said Germany, France and Britain were ready to enter into talks with Tehran to rule out Iran’s acquisition of nuclear weapons. He also called for support for Saudi Arabia and Yemen.
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