Turkey to offer mediation in US-Iran showdown / Photo: © AFP/File
Turkey to offer mediation in US-Iran showdown
Turkey will offer to mediate between Washington and Tehran when Iran's foreign minister visits Friday, officials said, as Ankara mulls reinforcing security along its border should the dispute escalate.
Friday's visit by Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi comes after US President Donald Trump threatened a military strike on Iran over its deadly protest crackdown this month.
A US naval strike group is in the Middle East and Trump has warned it was "ready, willing and able" to hit Iran "if necessary".
Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan will tell Araghchi that Turkey "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", said the source, requesting anonymity because of the sensitivity of the talks.
-'Security risks'-
In an interview with Al-Jazeera television on Wednesday, Fidan stressed the need for Washington and Tehran to resume discussions on Iran's nuclear programme, 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," he said.
The diplomatic source said Turkey was in favour of efforts to reach "a peaceful solution to Iran's nuclear programme in the near term and is ready to provide assistance if needed".
As well as Turkey's diplomatic efforts to stave off a military confrontation, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has also been pushing Washington for a high-level trilateral meeting, Turkish media reports said.
There was no official confirmation of the report.
In Tehran, foreign ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baqaei confirmed Friday's visit. He said on X that Iran "is determined to continuously strengthen relations with its neighbours based on the policy of good neighbourliness and common interests".
Analysts say Turkey believes a military strike against Iran would generate serious security risks, including instability and mass migration, and therefore prioritises diplomacy.
"Turkey's focus in US-Iran relations is not necessarily on resolving all disputes, but on preventing a military intervention," Ankara-based Iranian academic Arif Keskin told AFP.
Turkey's stance aligned with the approach of pro-negotiation circles in Iran, he said.
"At this stage, it is widely acknowledged that the actor that would benefit most from negotiations and a potential agreement would be the Iranian leadership itself," Keskin said.
"Even the initiation of talks is viewed as a significant gain for Iran."
- Contingency plans -
Alongside its diplomatic push, Ankara is assessing additional security precautions along its border with Iran if a US strike destabilises the country, a senior Turkish official told AFP.
Much of the 500-kilometre (310-mile) frontier is secured by a wall, but "it has proven insufficient", said the official, who requested anonymity.
Ankara has so far avoided the term "buffer zone" but options under review include deploying more troops and expanding technological surveillance systems, the official added.
Turkey began building a concrete wall in 2021 as concerns grew about a potential influx of migrants following the Taliban's takeover of Afghanistan.
The defence ministry said this month, however, that it had detected "no evidence" of large‑scale migration towards the border.
Unmanned aerial vehicles conduct round-the-clock reconnaissance along the frontier.
To date, Turkey has installed 380 kilometres (236 miles) of modular concrete wall and 553 kilometres of trenches with nearly 250 surveillance towers, official figures show.
burs-fo-ach/hmw/tw
(W.Novokshonov--DTZ)
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