Trump supported Ankara's peace initiative, while Pezeshkian rejected it. Ankara has repeatedly initiated efforts to prevent a possible war between the US and Iran, but Tehran does not correctly assess the political atmosphere in Washington.
Modern.az reports that this was stated by Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan in a statement to local media today.
H. Fidan noted that the first steps towards restoring dialogue were taken after the phone call between President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and US President Donald Trump on January 27. According to him, Erdoğan proposed holding a trilateral video conference between Trump and Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian. Although Washington accepted this initiative, Tehran rejected it.
“If the Iranian side had accepted the trilateral meeting proposal, it could have been a turning point. Because we knew that the negotiation process was nearing its end and a decisive intervention was required to change the situation,” Fidan emphasized.
Fidan added that in February, the atmosphere surrounding the US-Iran confrontation was extremely tense.
"During contacts between Ankara and Washington at that time, the US was on the verge of deciding to strike Iran. In all contacts, there was talk of war, of an inevitable attack,” he stated.
Fidan noted that three days after the phone call between Trump and Erdoğan, he met with Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi in Istanbul. He stated that the Americans wanted to discuss four issues with the Iranians, but Tehran did not accept this proposal either.
The minister added that after this, the Iranians returned to the previous format, rejecting the mediation of regional countries such as Turkey, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, UAE, Egypt, and Jordan, and chose Oman for bilateral talks.
After several rounds held in Oman, Fidan said on February 27 that he understood the process was not moving in a positive direction. “In my opinion, if the Iranians had correctly assessed President Trump's pressure and accepted some proposals, the risk of war could have decreased,” Fidan concluded.
