Iran Open To ‘Sensible’ Back-Channel Diplomacy: Turkey Foreign Minister

Ankara, March 15: Turkey’s powerful foreign minister said Saturday that there is no serious initiative to resume negotiations between the United States and Iran but that he believes Iran is open to back-channel talks. The comments by Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan to The Associated Press in an exclusive interview came as Ankara is striving to stay out of the widening war in the Middle East.

Ankara, which has good relations with both Washington and Tehran, had attempted to mediate a solution between them before the U.S. and Israel attacked Iran two weeks ago, triggering the war.

“The conditions are not very much conducive” to diplomacy now, Fidan said. The Iranians “feel betrayed” because for a second time they were attacked while in active negotiations with the U.S. over their nuclear program, he said, but added, “I think they are open to any sensible back-channel diplomacy.” Fidan, 57, served as Turkey’s intelligence chief for more than a decade before being appointed foreign minister in 2023.

Key role in formulating Turkey’s Middle East policy

In that role, he played a key part in shaping Turkey’s policy in the Middle East, particularly toward Syria, Iraq and Iran. He is considered to be one of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s most trusted advisers and one of the potential candidates to succeed him.

Turkey has maintained a neutral position in the war, criticizing both the U.S and Israeli strikes against Iran and Tehran’s retaliatory actions against Gulf states that host U.S. bases. Fidan said he has been attempting to persuade the Iranians to halt those attacks.

Fidan said Turkey’s top priority is to remain outside of the conflict, even after three missiles believed to come from Iran were intercepted over Turkey by NATO defenses. Turkey is a NATO member and an air base in southern Turkey is used by NATO forces, including U.S. troops. Iranian officials have insisted that they did not fire at Turkey, although the available data shows that the missiles came from Iran, the Turkish foreign minister said.

He ruled out a military response at this stage, saying that NATO’s defenses were effective and that Ankara’s “primary objective” is to stay out of the conflict. “I know that we are being provoked and we will be provoked, but this is our objective,” he said. “We want to stay out of this war.”

Fidan, who has regular contact with Iranian officials, said he does not know the severity of the wounds suffered by Iran’s new Supreme Leader Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei in a strike earlier in the war, but that “what we know is that he is alive and functioning.” Khamenei was appointed to replace his father, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who was killed Feb. 28 during the war’s opening salvo.

Fidan said “the process of electing a new leader and the medical conditions of the new leader, it created a gap” in Iran’s power structure and “I think that gap has been filled by the high command of the Revolutionary Guards,” referring to the paramilitary force reporting to the Supreme Leader.

A failed peace initiative

Before the conflict, Turkey tried to avert a war by offering to host talks in Istanbul that would have brought U.S., Iran and other regional countries together. Iran later opted for talks mediated by Oman, without the participation of regional actors and focusing solely on its nuclear program — talks that ultimately failed.

Fidan said that Iran had refused to discuss its missile program and the proxy armed groups it backs in the region, including the Lebanese Hezbollah and a group of Iraqi militias — both of which have now waded into the regional war.

Turkey had proposed that “the Americans and the Iranians can discuss fully the nuclear issue and we as regional countries can come together to discuss the other two with Iran” as part of an initiative to build trust within the region.