Erdogan says Turkey ready to facilitate ending Iran-Israel conflict

ISTANBUL: Turkey is ready to play a “facilitating role” to end the conflict between Israel and Iran, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan told his Iranian counterpart in a phone call on Monday, his office said.

During the call with Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian, Erdogan said: “Turkey is ready to play a facilitating role for the immediate end of the conflict and return to nuclear negotiations,” according to his office.

Erdogan, who stepped up diplomatic calls on the conflict over the weekend, has slammed Israel’s “banditry” and said Israel was seeking to drag the world into “disaster” after a wave of strikes on Iran.

Turkey has previously hosted peace talks between Ukraine and Russia.

President Erdogan accused Israel of threatening security in the Middle East, which he said cannot tolerate another war, in a phone call with Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin on Monday, his office said.

Erdogan was quoted saying: “The spiral of violence that began with Israel’s attacks on Iran has put the security of the entire region at risk, (and) that the lawless attitude of the (Israeli premier Benjamin) Netanyahu government poses a clear threat to the international system, and that the region cannot tolerate a new war.”