It’s being reported today via Reuters and the Jerusalem Post that Iran informed Turkey ahead of time of it’s planned attack on Israel, according to a Turkish diplomatic source.
The report also said that the US conveyed, via Ankara, that the Iranian attack had to be within limits.
Here’s more from JPOST:
Iran informed Turkey in advance of its planned operation against Israel, a Turkish diplomatic source told Reuters on Sunday, adding that Washington had conveyed to Tehran via Ankara that any action it took had to be “within certain limits.”
Turkey, which has denounced Israel for its campaign on Gaza, said earlier on Sunday that it did not want a further escalation of tensions in the region.
The Turkish source, speaking on condition of anonymity, said Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan had spoken to both his US and Iranian counterparts in the past week to discuss the planned Iranian operation, adding Ankara had been made aware of possible developments.
Earlier this week, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken spoke to Fidan to make clear that escalation in the Middle East was not in anyone’s interest.
“Iran informed us in advance of what would happen. Possible developments also came up during the meeting with Blinken, and they (the US) conveyed to Iran through us that this reaction must be within certain limits,” the source said.
“In response, Iran said the reaction would be a response to Israel’s attack on its embassy in Damascus and that it would not go beyond this.”
Turkey’s foreign ministry later confirmed the contacts in a statement, saying Ankara had called for restraint and warned of a regional war if tensions escalated further.
A Turkish security source said CIA chief William Burns had spoken to Ibrahim Kalin, head of Turkey’s MIT intelligence agency, over the Eid al-Fitr holidays and asked him to act as a “mediator” in the Israel-Iran tensions.
I’m not sure how I feel about this. I get why the US would want to use Turkey as a mediator in communicating with the Iranian terrorists, but what concerns me is this tacit approval for the attack conveyed by Blinken and his cronies, when they said the attack must be “within certain limits”. I assume that’s referring to limiting ‘escalation’, but I think Blinken should have vehemently condemned the idea of any attack and told them not to do it.
Maybe I’m making too much of this, but it just feels like the ugly duplicity that we’ve come to know from Joe Biden and his administration. They need to stop trying to be friends with Iran and back Israel 100%, especially when it comes to an Israeli response to last night’s aggression.