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Turkey, Greece May Resume Talks over Disputed Waters

Turkey and Greece are at odds over the limits of their continental shelves, energy rights, air space and the status of some islands. (AFP)
Turkey and Greece are at odds over the limits of their continental shelves, energy rights, air space and the status of some islands. (AFP)
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Turkey, Greece May Resume Talks over Disputed Waters

Turkey and Greece are at odds over the limits of their continental shelves, energy rights, air space and the status of some islands. (AFP)
Turkey and Greece are at odds over the limits of their continental shelves, energy rights, air space and the status of some islands. (AFP)

Turkey and Greece said on Monday they wanted to resume suspended exploratory talks over territorial claims in the Mediterranean Sea which brought them close to conflict last year.

Plans for talks last year foundered after disagreement over a Turkish seismic exploration vessel deployed to disputed waters, but the ship has since returned.

"So Greece has no excuse right now," Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu told reporters, saying he was inviting Greece for talks by the end of January on all issues.

Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis said his government would attend once a date was set.

"We seek a fertile and productive relationship with Turkey," he told reporters in Lisbon, saying officials would have to be in contact formally. "It's probably about time we stopped chit-chatting and sat down and agreed on a date."

The two NATO military alliance members are at odds over the limits of their continental shelves, energy rights, air space and the status of some islands.

Their dispute threatened to spill into open conflict when Turkish and Greek warships collided in August as they shadowed Turkey's Oruc Reis vessel as it surveyed for oil and gas west of Cyprus.

Ankara and Athens have held 60 rounds of talks between 2002-2016, but resumption of negotiations has been complicated by what both sides are prepared to discuss.

Greece said on Monday it was willing to talk about demarcation of an Exclusive Economic Zone and the continental shelf. It was not immediately clear whether Ankara would insist on other issues being included.

Cavusoglu said he was ready to meet Greek counterpart Niko Dendias in Tirana after Albania offered to mediate. "I hope Greece does not turn down this opportunity," he said.

Under pressure from some European Union (EU) members including Germany, Greece had indicated it could resume talks on Jan. 11, the Turkish minister added.

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Israel’s Military Warns People to Evacuate Area Around Iran’s Arak Heavy Water Reactor

This satellite photo from Planet Labs PBC shows the Arak heavy water reaction in Iran on March 20, 2025. (Planet Labs PBC via AP)
This satellite photo from Planet Labs PBC shows the Arak heavy water reaction in Iran on March 20, 2025. (Planet Labs PBC via AP)
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Israel’s Military Warns People to Evacuate Area Around Iran’s Arak Heavy Water Reactor

This satellite photo from Planet Labs PBC shows the Arak heavy water reaction in Iran on March 20, 2025. (Planet Labs PBC via AP)
This satellite photo from Planet Labs PBC shows the Arak heavy water reaction in Iran on March 20, 2025. (Planet Labs PBC via AP)

Israel’s military warned people Thursday to evacuate the area around Iran’s Arak heavy water reactor.

The warning came in a social media post on X. It included a satellite image of the plant in a red circle like other warnings that preceded strikes.

The Israeli military said Thursday’s round of airstrikes targeted Tehran and other areas of Iran, without elaborating. It later said Iran fired a new salvo of missiles at Israel and told the public to take shelter, The Associated Press reported.

Israel's seventh day of airstrikes on Iran came a day after Iran’s supreme leader rejected US calls for surrender and warned that any military involvement by the Americans would cause “irreparable damage to them.” Israel also lifted some restrictions on daily life, suggesting the missile threat from Iran on its territory was easing.

Already, Israel’s campaign has targeted Iran’s enrichment site at Natanz, centrifuge workshops around Tehran and a nuclear site in Isfahan. Its strikes have also killed top generals and nuclear scientists.

A Washington-based Iranian human rights group said at least 639 people, including 263 civilians, have been killed in Iran and more than 1,300 wounded. In retaliation, Iran has fired some 400 missiles and hundreds of drones, killing at least 24 people in Israel and wounding hundreds. Some have hit apartment buildings in central Israel, causing heavy damage.

The Arak heavy water reactor is 250 kilometers (155 miles) southwest of Tehran.

Heavy water helps cool nuclear reactors, but it produces plutonium as a byproduct that can potentially be used in nuclear weapons. That would provide Iran another path to the bomb beyond enriched uranium, should it choose to pursue the weapon.

Iran had agreed under its 2015 nuclear deal with world powers to redesign the facility to relieve proliferation concerns.

In 2019, Iran started up the heavy water reactor’s secondary circuit, which at the time did not violate Tehran’s 2015 nuclear deal with world powers.

Britain at the time was helping Iran redesign the Arak reactor to limit the amount of plutonium it produces, stepping in for the US, which had withdrawn from the project after President Donald Trump’s decision in 2018 to unilaterally withdraw America from the nuclear deal.

The International Atomic Energy Agency, the United Nations’ nuclear watchdog, has been urging Israel not to strike Iranian nuclear sites. IAEA inspectors reportedly last visited Arak on May 14.

Due to restrictions Iran imposed on inspectors, the IAEA has said it lost “continuity of knowledge” about Iran’s heavy water production -- meaning it could not absolutely verify Tehran’s production and stockpile.

As part of negotiations around the 2015 deal, Iran agreed to sell off its heavy water to the West to remain in compliance with the accord’s terms. Even the US purchased some 32 tons of heavy water for over $8 million in one deal. That was one issue that drew criticism from opponents to the deal.