Diplomatic efforts intensify to avert US-Iran war

2026-01-30 - 11:26

ANKARA — Diplomatic efforts are intensifying to avoid a military confrontation between the US and Iran, as Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi arrived in Trukey for high-level talks. Speaking on arrival in Istanbul on Friday, Araghchi said Iran and Turkey needed “closer consultations” given what he described as serious regional developments, particularly in light of goals and positions put forward by the US, according to Iran’s Mehr news agency.Araghchi said the visit, planned months in advance, would focus on reviewing bilateral relations as well as regional and international issues.Mehr said Araghchi is due to meet his Turkish counterpart Hakan Fidan and President Recep Tayyip Erdogan during the visit.Saudi Arabia’s Defense Minister Prince Khalid bin Salman met with top US officials, including Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth as well as US Special Envoy to the Middle East Steve Witkoff, the Saudi Press Agency (SPA) reported.During the meeting, they reviewed the strategic relations between the two countries, and discussed ongoing efforts to establish peace in the region.The Trump administration is hosting senior defencse and intelligence officials from Israel for talks on Iran this week in Washington, according to two people familiar with the matter. US officials say Trump is reviewing his options but has not decided whether to strike Iran.Mohamed ElBaradei, former director general of the UN’s International Atomic Energy Agency, has warned that threats of military action against Iran echo the lead-up to the Iraq war.Araghchi criticized Europe, saying it was a “declining continent” that lacked a clear understanding of regional realities. He described the EU’s decision to designate Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps a “terrorist” organization as a strategic mistake.The US has welcomed EU decision, saying it was Iran’s “primary tool for terror inside and outside” the country.EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas said on Thursday that the bloc’s foreign ministers took a “decisive step” in labeling the IRGC as a “terrorist” group.“Repression cannot go unanswered,” Kallas wrote on social media. “Any regime that kills thousands of its own people is working toward its own demise.”The Iranian Foreign Ministry responded to the decision, saying the move was “illegal, political and contrary to international law” as well as a violation of the country’s internal affairs.It also said Tehran “reserves the right to take appropriate measures within the framework of international law to defend its sovereignty, national security, and the interests of the Iranian nation, and holds the European Union and its member states responsible for the consequences of this action”.Azerbaijan said it will never allow its airspace or territory to be used by any state to carry out military operations against neighboring Iran. Foreign Minister Jeyhun Bayramov said he held a phone call with Iranian Foreign Araghchi, and discussed the recent escalation of tensions in the region.He said Azerbaijan has consistently stressed the need for all parties to refrain from steps and rhetoric that could lead to instability in Iran and its surrounding region.He highlighted the importance of resolving issues solely through dialogue and diplomatic means in line with the rules and principles of international law.Iranian authorities say they have arrested an unidentified number of people responsible for destroying public property in recent antigovernment protests in the Shahr-e Rey area of southern Tehran, according to the country’s semiofficial Tasnim news agency.In a post on X, the agency reported that intelligence monitoring by the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) had led to the arrests of alleged leaders of “the main network responsible for destroying public property” in protests in Shahr-e Rey.