Tehran
\nTurkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan said there were signs that Israel was seeking an opportunity to attack Iran, warning such a move could further destabilise the region.
\n\u201cI hope they find a different path, but the reality is that Israel, in particular, is looking for an opportunity to strike Iran,\u201d Fidan told Turkish broadcaster NTV in an interview broadcast on Friday.
\nAsked specifically whether this assessment applied to both the United States and Israel, Fidan stated that Israel, in particular, was seeking such an opportunity, the Turkiye Today news outlet reported.
\nThe foreign minister added that he had conveyed concerns directly to Iranian officials during a recent visit to the country.
\n\u201cWhen I went to Tehran in recent days, I told them everything about the process as their friend,\u201d Fidan said. \u201cAnd you know, a friend speaks bitter truths,\u201d he said, according to Turkiye Today.
\nFidan\u2019s warning followed after Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan told his Iranian counterpart Masoud Pezeshkian in a phone call on Thursday that Turkiye was opposed to any foreign interventions in Iran and that it valued its neighbour\u2019s peace and stability.
\nA senior Iranian official told the Reuters news agency on Friday that Tehran would treat any attack by its enemies \u201cas an all-out war against us\u201d \u2013 the latest sabre-rattling in an escalating war of words between Washington and the Iranian leadership.
\nOn Thursday, US President Donald Trump said that he had sent an \u201carmada\u201d of naval ships towards the Gulf region with Iran in its sights, once again ramping up rhetoric against Tehran after cooling his comments last week after apparently backing away from threats to attack Iran amid widespread antigovernment protests.
\n\u201cIf the Americans violate Iran\u2019s sovereignty and territorial integrity, we will respond,\u201d the senior Iranian official told Reuters.
\n\u201cThis military buildup \u2013 we hope it is not intended for real confrontation \u2013 but our military is ready for the worst-case scenario. This is why everything is on high alert in Iran,\u201d the official said.
\n\u201cThis time we will treat any attack \u2013 limited, unlimited, surgical, kinetic, whatever they call it \u2013 as an all-out war against us, and we will respond in the hardest way possible to settle this,\u201d the official added.
\n\u201cA country under constant military threat from the United States has no option but to ensure that everything at its disposal can be used to push back and, if possible, restore balance against anyone who dares to attack Iran.\u201d
\nUS media has reported that the USS Abraham Lincoln aircraft carrier and its strike group of vessels have diverted from the South China Sea to the Middle East and are expected to arrive in the Gulf region in the coming days.
\nThe US military last staged a major buildup of naval forces in June 2024 in support of Israel\u2019s 12-day war on Iran and in advance of US attacks on Iran\u2019s nuclear programme.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Tehran Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan said there were signs that Israel was seeking an opportunity to attack Iran, warning such a move could further destabilise the region. \u201cI hope they find a different path, but the reality is that Israel, in particular, is looking for an opportunity to strike Iran,\u201d Fidan told Turkish broadcaster […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":527548,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-527518","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-world"},"yoast_head":"\n