Zarif Tries to Defuse Tensions with Ankara

Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif speaks during a press conference in Tehran, June 10, 2019. AP
Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif speaks during a press conference in Tehran, June 10, 2019. AP
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Zarif Tries to Defuse Tensions with Ankara

Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif speaks during a press conference in Tehran, June 10, 2019. AP
Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif speaks during a press conference in Tehran, June 10, 2019. AP

Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif met Turkish officials in Istanbul on Friday as the two regional powers tried to move past tensions sparked by the deaths of Turkish captives in Iraq.

Zarif and his Turkish counterpart Mevlut Cavusoglu discussed Syria and the ongoing Afghan peace talks as well as trade and the fight against terror, the two counties' foreign ministries said in separate statements.

Turkey's spy chief Hakan Fidan also attended the meeting.

Turkey and Iran, at odds over regional issues including Syria, became entangled in a diplomatic spat in February over Ankara's military operations against Kurdish militants in Iraq.

Turkey accused Kurdish militants of killing 12 Turks and an Iraqi they were holding hostage in northern Iraq.

The Kurdish militants said the 13 were killed by Turkish bombs during a failed rescue operation launched by Ankara.

The incident prompted Iran's envoy to Baghdad, Iraj Masjedi, to warn that Turkish forces should not "pose a threat or violate Iraqi soil," where Iran's influence is strong.

The incident prompted Turkey and Iran to each summon the other's ambassador.

Both Ankara and Tehran have carried out operations against Kurdish militants in northern Iraq, and are vying for influence in the war-torn country.

Militants from the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK), who have fought an insurgency against the Turkish state since 1984, are blacklisted as a terrorist organization by Ankara and its Western allies.

Zarif last visited Istanbul on January 29, when Turkey urged the United States to return to the 2015 nuclear agreement that saw Washington lift some sanctions on Tehran in exchange for Iran limiting its ambitions to develop a bomb.



US House Speaker Johnson Will Travel to Israel on June 22 

Speaker of the House Mike Johnson, R-La., during a news conference at the RNC near the Capitol in Washington, Tuesday, June 10, 2025. (AP)
Speaker of the House Mike Johnson, R-La., during a news conference at the RNC near the Capitol in Washington, Tuesday, June 10, 2025. (AP)
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US House Speaker Johnson Will Travel to Israel on June 22 

Speaker of the House Mike Johnson, R-La., during a news conference at the RNC near the Capitol in Washington, Tuesday, June 10, 2025. (AP)
Speaker of the House Mike Johnson, R-La., during a news conference at the RNC near the Capitol in Washington, Tuesday, June 10, 2025. (AP)

US House Speaker Mike Johnson will travel to Israel to address the parliament on June 22, he said on Wednesday.

"Our ties run deeper than military partnerships and trade agreements," Johnson said in an emailed statement.

Punchbowl News, which first reported Johnson's plan, said the House Speaker was expected to meet Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in Jerusalem during the trip.

Johnson did not provide further details on the planned trip.

Johnson announced the visit as Israel presses on with its military campaign in the Gaza Strip, more than 20 months after it launched its offensive there in response to a deadly incursion into Israel led by the Palestinian group Hamas.

On Tuesday, Australia, Britain, Canada, New Zealand and Norway imposed sanctions on far-right Israeli cabinet ministers Itamar Ben-Gvir and Bezalel Smotrich, accusing them of repeatedly inciting violence against Palestinians in the West Bank.

Israel called the action "outrageous" and said the Israeli government would hold a meeting early next week to decide how to respond.