Iran slammed as a “vulgar” Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan’s recent statement in which he called on Tehran to abandon its “expansionist policy in the Middle East”.
Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baghaei slammed the comments, accusing Türkiye of turning a “blind eye” to the “covert” American and Israeli influence on regional developments, reported the Tasnim news agency that is affiliated with the Iranian Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC).
“As the Turkish foreign minister said, the region should liberate itself from the hegemony of any other country. Neither the Arabs, Turks, Kurds, or Iranians should seek the hegemony of others or create threats, but what about Israel?” he said in a post on the X platform.
He noted that days after the collapse of the Assad regime in Syria, “Israel – with the support of groups backed by Türkiye – waged a widescale attack on Syrian military and defense infrastructure, even scientific and research facilities, destroying over 90 percent of them.”
He cited “Israel’s occupation of all of the Golan Heights and its continued expansionist policies to occupy large and significant Syrian territories.”
The occupation allows Israel to control the most important sources of water in Syria and violates its territorial safety and national sovereignty, Baghaei remarked.
“We were the first country that opposed the coup in 2016 and the first country to welcome the Kurdistan Workers’ Party’s announcement that it was laying down its arms,” he went on to say. “We believe that is an important step towards bolstering Türkiye's security as a neighbor.”
Fidan had recently declared that Tehran “paid a heavy price in maintaining its influence in Iraq and Syria. The cost it incurred was much greater than what it achieved” there.
Moreover, he said Iran’s foreign policy that is tied to proxies in the region holds high risks despite the gains it achieved.
“Tehran paid a heavy price in return for maintaining the groups that are allied to it in the region,” he added.
Iran must abandon its expansionist policy in the region, Fidan demanded, speculating that the Iranian authorities may adopt a different approach given the changes in the region, such as developing relations with other countries.
Iran and Türkiye have clashed before over regional influence.
Ali Akbar Velayati, aide to Iran’s Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, had in December slammed Türkiye, saying it has turned into “a pawn for the United States and Israel”.
Later that month, Fidan dismissed Khamenei’s claims that the “Resistance Axis has not been defeated” and that the Assad regime in Syria was toppled by the US and Israel.
Fidan said: “The Iranian presence in Syria did not help prevent the major genocide in Gaza from happening.”
