Iran's FM in Istanbul for Arab League meeting on Israel conflict

ISTANBUL

Iran's foreign minister arrived in Istanbul on Saturday, Tasnim news agency reported, for a meeting with Arab League diplomats to discuss Tehran's escalating conflict with Israel.

Around 40 diplomats are slated to join the weekend gathering of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC), as Israel and Iran continue to exchange missile strikes. Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan is hosting the gathering.

It comes after Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi met with his counterparts from Britain, France and Germany in Geneva on Friday.

"At this meeting, at the suggestion of Iran, the issue of the Zionist regime's attack on our country will be specifically addressed," said Iranian foreign Abbas Araghchi, according to the news agency.

President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan met with Araghchi on Saturday and discussed the ongoing Israel-Iran conflict on the sidelines of the summit.

During the meeting, the two leaders discussed the escalating conflict between Israel and Iran as well as broader regional and global issues, according to a statement issued by Türkiye's Communications Directorate on X.

Erdoğan emphasized that Türkiye has shown a firm stance against Israel’s attacks on Gaza, Lebanon, and Syria and maintains the same position regarding strikes against Iran.

He underlined that “the region cannot endure another war,” calling for an immediate halt to Israeli aggression and a return to diplomacy as the path to resolving nuclear disputes.

Noting that Türkiye is ready to do its part, including facilitating dialogue, Erdoğan "emphasized the need for immediate steps to start diplomacy through technical and high-level talks between Iran and the U.S., and reaffirmed that Türkiye will continue to support this process."

Speaking to reporters in Istanbul ahead of the 51st Session of the OIC in, Araghchi said: “Diplomacy worked in the past, it can work again. But to return to it, aggression must stop.”

Araghchi warned that the U.S. participation in Israel’s ongoing attacks on Iran would be “very unfortunate” and “extremely dangerous for everyone.”

Israel began its assault in the early hours of June 13, saying Iran was on the verge of developing nuclear weapons, triggering an immediate retaliation from Tehran in the worst-ever confrontation between the two arch-rivals.

Earlier on Friday, Araghchi said Tehran was ready to "consider diplomacy" again only if Israel's "aggression is stopped".

The Arab League ministers are expected to release a statement following their meeting, the state news agency Anadolu said.

An Arab League's foreign ministers' meeting in Istanbul on Friday to discuss developments related to conflicts in the Middle East has concluded, diplomatic sources said.

Record participants

With Fidan hosting the important conference during a critical period when Israel's attacks on the Gaza Strip and the conflict between Tel Aviv and Iran continue, all eyes of the world are once again on Türkiye.

The session will be held under the theme "The Organization of Islamic Cooperation in a Transforming World."

Türkiye, a founding member of the organization, has contributed to many activities within the OIC and has also hosted many events.

The event will be one of the most widely attended meetings in the history of the OIC.

The number of participants is expected to be around 1,000, with a record number of high-level participants compared to previous meetings.

Of the heads of delegations from the countries that will attend the meeting, 43 will be ministers and five will be deputy ministers.

Besides the representatives from OIC sub-organizations, the meeting will also feature high-level participation from 30 international organizations such as the U.N., the Arab League, the Gulf Cooperation Council, Organization of the Black Sea Economic Cooperation, D-8 Organization for Economic Cooperation, the Economic Cooperation Organization, the Organization of Turkic States, the International Organization for Migration and the World Trade Organization.

The Extraordinary Ministerial Conference of the Arab League will also be held in Türkiye within the framework of the session, which will be followed by 200 local and foreign media members. It will be the first Arab League meeting to be held in Türkiye.

Prolonged war

Israel's war against Iran, now in its second week, will be "prolonged", military chief Eyal Zamir said Friday as the arch rivals traded fire and European powers held talks with the Islamic republic.

"We must be ready for a prolonged campaign," Zamir told Israelis in a video statement, eight days after his country launched a massive wave of strikes it said aimed at stopping Iran from developing nuclear weapons — an ambition Tehran has denied.

"We have embarked on the most complex campaign in our history to remove a threat of such magnitude," said Zamir.

"The campaign is not over. Although we have made significant achievements, difficult days still lie ahead."

Iran has responded with barrages of missiles and drones, which Israeli authorities say have killed at least 25 people.

Iran said on Sunday that Israeli strikes had killed at least 224 people since June 13, including military commanders, nuclear scientists and civilians.

Britain's Foreign Secretary David Lammy said "a window now exists within the next two weeks to achieve a diplomatic solution", while agreeing with U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio that "Iran can never develop or acquire a nuclear weapon".

Western governments suspect Iran of seeking a nuclear weapons capability.

The International Atomic Energy Agency said that while Iran is the only country without nuclear weapons to enrich uranium to 60 percent, there was no evidence it had all the components to make a functioning nuclear warhead.

"So, saying how long it would take for them, it would be pure speculation because we do not know whether there was somebody... secretly pursuing these activities," the agency's chief Rafael Grossi told CNN.

Addressing the U.N. Human Rights Council on Friday, Araghchi said Israel's attacks were a "betrayal" of diplomatic efforts to reach a nuclear deal between Tehran and Washington.

"We were attacked in the midst of an ongoing diplomatic process," he said.