Iran and Türkiye will continue working together to stop Israel’s attacks on Gaza and Lebanon, Iranian Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Esmaeil Baghaei said Monday.
Ankara and Tehran are among staunch supporters of the Hamas liberation movement, whose incursion into Israel in October 2023 was followed by Israel’s ceaseless attacks on the Gaza Strip, which killed more than 42,000 people, mostly children and women.
Characterizing Türkiye-Iran relations as “very privileged,” Baghaei said Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi’s visit to Türkiye last week was “a very good opportunity to meet with Turkish officials.”
“Our talks with Hamas too have shown Hamas is alive,” Baghaei told reporters at a weekly briefing in Tehran.
“The two great nations of the Muslim world and regional powers Iran and Türkiye are working to stop attacks on Gaza and Lebanon with determination,” the spokesperson said.
He also listed strengthening border security and counterterrorism as key topics in Iranian relations with Türkiye and assured Iranian and Turkish officials were in contact within the Astana framework on the Syrian crisis.
“We are working to facilitate peace and stability in Syria with the aid of Türkiye and other allies,” Baghaei said, adding that the U.S. occupation and lack of stability were empowering terrorist groups in the region.
“Türkiye and Iran agree we must help with the facilitation of stability and security in Syria again to combat terrorism on shared borders and region,” the spokesperson said.
Iran’s top diplomat, Araqchi, visited Lebanon, Syria, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Iraq, Oman, Egypt, Jordan and Türkiye last week to discuss ways to stop Israel’s war on the Gaza Strip.
“The spread of the war in the region is a serious threat; we are in favor of peace, but we are also prepared for any scenario,” Araqchi told a press conference with Fidan in Istanbul on Saturday after bilateral talks.
Despite international outcry and efforts to end the conflicts, Israel continues its air and ground attacks in both Lebanon and Gaza.
Earlier this month, Iran launched missiles into Israel in retaliation for the assassination of Hamas chief Ismail Haniyeh and Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has vowed that Iran would “pay” for the attacks and is said to be still deliberating how to respond.
Türkiye, fiercely critical of Israel’s brutal offensive in Gaza, which it and others say amounts to genocide, has been on alert about a possible regional spillover of the conflict with Israel’s persistent attacks on Lebanon and Iran’s retaliation.
President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has warned Netanyahu’s administration may very well target Türkiye next. “The Israeli administration, which acts upon its delusion of the ‘Promised Land,’ will set its sights on our homeland after Palestine and Lebanon,” he said.
Erdoğan often calls for unity among Muslim countries, arguing the current conflict was not between Israel and Palestine but “a fight between expansionist Zionism and Muslims defending their homeland.”
Türkiye itself accelerated normalization processes with Islamic countries with whom ties were lukewarm or nonexistent as the conflict raged on, including with Bashar Assad’s regime in Syria.
Türkiye and Iran put aside their hostilities in the 17th century and have since pursued close ties, regardless of regime changes, replacing an empire with a republic, etc. However, culturally close ties occasionally strained over other conflicts in the region.
More recently, Ankara and Tehran found themselves on opposing sides in the Syria civil war, with Tehran backing the Assad regime and Türkiye siding with the opposition. Yet, the situation never actually translated into an all-out conflict between the two neighbors while trade relations between Türkiye and Iran remained unaffected.
