ANKARA (Reuters) – Iran informed Turkey ahead of its planned operation against Israel, a Turkish diplomatic source told Reuters on Sunday, adding that Washington had informed Tehran via Ankara that any action it took must be to do “within certain limits”.
Turkey, which has denounced Israel for its campaign on Gaza, said on Sunday it did not want a further escalation of tensions in the region.
The Turkish source, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the Turkish foreign minister. Hakan Fidan had spoken with his American and Iranian counterparts last week to discuss the planned Iranian operation, adding that Ankara had been informed of possible developments.
Earlier this week, US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken spoke with Fidan to make him understand that escalation in the Middle East was in no one’s interest.
“Iran informed us in advance about what was going to happen. Possible developments also emerged during the meeting with Blinken, and they (the United States) made it clear to Iran through us that this reaction had to be within certain limits,” the source said.
“In response, Iran said its reaction would be a response to the Israeli attack on its embassy in Damascus and would not go beyond.”
Turkey’s neighbor Iran has vowed to retaliate for what it calls an Israeli strike on its Damascus consulate on April 1 that killed seven Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps officers.
The Turkish Foreign Ministry confirmed the contacts in a statement, saying Ankara had called for restraint and warned of regional war if tensions escalated further.
He said Ankara would continue its efforts to prevent further conflicts and escalation in the region.
A Turkish security source said CIA chief William Burns spoke with Ibrahim Kalin, head of Turkey’s intelligence agency MIT, over the Eid al-Fitr holiday and he had asked to act as a “mediator” in Israeli-Iranian tensions.
The two also discussed ceasefire efforts in Gaza, the source said, without elaborating.
(Reporting by Tuvan Gumrukcu; Additional reporting by Ece Toksabay; Editing by Alex Richardson and Jan Harvey)
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