President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan on Monday held a phone call with Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi. The two leaders discussed the ongoing Palestine-Israel conflict, as millions suffer under an Israeli blockade in Gaza.
The Presidency’s Directorate of Communications said in a statement that the two leaders also discussed steps needed to de-escalate the conflict.
“President Erdoğan said ending the conflict as soon as possible was important for regional and global peace and Türkiye exerted efforts to deliver humanitarian aid to Gaza. The president also said mutual positive steps taken by sides to the conflict would bring a permanent solution,” the directorate said.
On Sunday, Iran warned Israel of escalation if it failed to end aggressions against Palestinians, with its foreign minister saying other parties in the region were ready to act.
“If the Zionist aggressions do not stop, the hands of all parties in the region are on the trigger,” Iranian media quoted Foreign Minister Hossein Amirabdollahian as saying.
Iran’s top authority, Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, said on Tuesday Tehran was not involved in the Hamas group’s offensive on Israel but hailed what he called Israel’s “irreparable” military and intelligence defeat. Israel has long accused Iran of stoking violence by supplying arms to Hamas. Tehran says it gives moral and financial support to the group. Backing the Palestinian cause has been a pillar of Iran. Amirabdollahian, who last week accused Israel of seeking “genocide” by enforcing a siege against the Gaza Strip, said an attack on Gaza would “open new fronts of resistance” in the Middle East.
“The responsibility for the possible opening of new fronts of resistance in the region and any escalation of today’s war directly falls on the United States and the Zionist regime (Israel),” Amirabdollahian said.
Amirabdollahian met with Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh on Saturday in Qatar, where they “agreed to continue cooperation” to achieve the group’s goals, Hamas said in a statement. Earlier, President Raisi urged France to help “prevent the oppression” of Palestinians in a phone call with his French counterpart Emmanuel Macron.
