President Trump has lately been making clear that while he wants to give more time for negotiations to develop, he still has major strike options on the table if he decides to review the war against Iran.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has on Monday revealed he sought to warn his American counterpart away from a new bombing campaign in a recent phone call.
“On the way back from Baku in Azerbaijan, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan spoke to the press on the plane,” Al Jazeera reports Monday. “Erdogan says he conveyed an anti-war message to US President Donald Trump.”
“We emphasise at every opportunity that it is possible to resolve these issues through dialogue and diplomacy,” Erdogan told reporters.
But he pointed to signs of another round of war in the region: “Unfortunately, we see a negative shift once again. We are doing our utmost to prevent this,” the Turkish leader said.
“I told Mr. Trump about our reservations, we hope common sense prevails and the region will be saved from the brink of (disaster).”
“More clashes do not mean anything but more losses for our region. It is not only the warring sides paying the price. It affects everyone from Türkiye to the Gulf countries, from Iraq and Syria to Europe and Asia,” he emphasized.
According to more via Al Jazeera: “The US side is saying these are not promising talks, and high-level delegations, including one led by the Qatari prime minister, are expected to speak to Trump.”
And so, Erdogan had “also warned that the crisis in the Strait of Hormuz affects not only Iran and other countries in the region, but also nations around the globe that are fighting inflation and facing many domestic problems.”
Erdogan had said something similar back in September: “We, like the rest of the world, are feeling the inflationary effects of the Iran-centered crisis” – he had stated at the time.
Trump had on Sunday hinted at a big picture settlement possibly involving Russia and China’s input:
“One of the meetings, I think, will be with President [Vladimir] Putin and President Xi [Jinping]. And that’ll be interesting,” Trump told reporters in Florida on Sunday, in reference to the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit in China’s Shenzhen next week.
“We’ll talk a lot of things, including denuclearisation. But we’ll be talking a lot of things. We’re trying to end the war in Iran, and we’re doing well because, you know, all we have to do, we’re choking it off.”
But by and large, Tehran appears to be sticking by adherence to its ‘seven conditions’ – among them sanctions relief, the removeal of US troops from the region, an end to the US naval blockade, and even the payment of war reparations.
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio called some of Iran’s conditions “outrageous and ridiculous”.
But Foreign Ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baghaei responded: “Is it unreasonable that Iran demands that US illegal sanctions and its naval blockade must be lifted before negotiations start and that the war should end on all fronts?”
The Islamic Republic has also been denying that indirect negotiations will resolve the nuclear enrichment question. Tehran has indicated it is not willing to enter nuclear negotiations until after the war is ended.
