“To prevent the war from escalating further, to stop more blood from being shed, and—God forbid—to spare our region from even greater suffering, he said.
Read more: Russia warns of a ‘radiological disaster’Earlier on Saturday, Erdoğan’s office rejected claims that Turkish airspace had been used to facilitate attacks on Iran. Turkey, an ally of the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO), hosts US personnel at the jointly operated Incirlik Air Base in the country’s south-east, near the Syrian border.
The latest escalation came hours after the foreign minister of Oman, Badr bin Hamad Al Busaidi, publicly declared that a peace deal was within sight and that there were agreements between the US and Iran like never before.
However, according to Erdoğan’s latest post, despite efforts from many countries, including his own phone conversations with US President Donald Trump and his Iranian counterpart, Masoud Pezeshkian, “the desired outcome could not be achieved, as neither the trust deficit between the parties could be overcome nor did Israel’s efforts to poison the process come to an end.”
Turkey’s Erdoğan is competing with Israel’s Benjamin Netanyahu, among others, to be the dominant voice for the Middle East, particularly one that aims to represent the interests of Muslim countries— which is a fairly divided camp—on the global stage.
Read more: Strait of Hormuz is closed down: How high can oil prices go?
