Turkish President, Recep Tayyip Erdogan has asserted that Israeli attacks on Iran right before a new round of nuclear talks with the United States aimed to sabotage the negotiations.
Addressing Arab League diplomats during a meeting of the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) in Istanbul, Erdogan labeled Israeli Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu as the “biggest obstacle to regional peace.”
He stated that Israeli attacks on Iran show that Netanyahu and his government “… do not want any issues or any matters to be solved diplomatically.”
“Netanyahu’s Zionist ambitions have no other purpose than to drag our region and … the whole world into a big disaster.”
Recep Tayyip Erdogan
Erdogan urged countries with influence over Israel not to listen to its “poison” and to seek a solution to the fighting via dialogue without allowing a wider conflict.
Erdogan also accused the Western leaders of providing “unconditional support” to Israel.
He said that Turkiye would not allow borders in the Middle East to be redrawn “in blood.”
He urged the OIC that it is vital for them to show more solidarity to end “Israel’s banditry” – not only in Palestine but also in Syria, in Lebanon and in Iran.
The 57-member OIC, founded in 1969, says its mission is to “safeguard and protect the interests of the Muslim world in the spirit of promoting international peace and harmony.”
Turkish Foreign Minister, Hakan Fidan, who spoke before Erdogan, accused Israel of leading the Middle East towards “total disaster” by attacking Iran.
“Israel is now leading the region to the brink of total disaster by attacking Iran, our neighbour.
“There is no Palestinian, Lebanese, Syrian, Yemeni or Iranian problem but there is clearly an Israeli problem.”
Hakan Fidan
Iran’s Foreign Minister, Abbas Araghchi also joined in the emergency meeting of the Foreign Ministers of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC), following a series of high-level diplomatic engagements in Geneva, Switzerland.
Speaking to reporters upon arrival, he added that Iran was currently “exercising our legitimate right for self-defense against the act of aggression, which is done against us unprovoked and in a very brutal way.”
“As everybody knows, we were in the middle of negotiations with the United States, and we were supposed to meet for the sixth round on 15th June, then all of a sudden Israelis decided to attack us on the 13th, only two days before the negotiations.
“It is obvious that they are against diplomacy, it is obvious that they don’t want a peaceful settlement of this issue.”
Abbas Araghchi
Iran Ready To Return To Negotiation Under Certain Conditions
Despite the breakdown in talks, Araghchi reiterated Iran’s willingness to return to the negotiating table under certain conditions.
“We are absolutely ready for a negotiated solution for our nuclear program, as we did in 2015. You know, we had a deal with the P5+1 at that time. That was the result of negotiation, two years of negotiation. And then when we concluded the deal, the whole world celebrated.
“So it means that diplomacy can work. It worked in the past, and it can work in the future.”
Abbas Aragchi
However, he stressed that a return to diplomacy is contingent on an end to hostilities. “It is obvious I cannot go to negotiation with the United States when our people are under bombardment, under the support of the United States,” he asserted.
“We have come, unfortunately, to the conclusion that the United States has been in this aggression from the beginning. You know, they deny, they keep saying that they are not involving. But we have many indications that they have been involved from day one.”
Abbas Aragchi
Also, Araghchi warned that reports of possible US participation in military operations alongside Israel would mark a significant and perilous escalation.
Additionally, he announced plans to hold a separate meeting with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.
