Turkey and Iran seek ‘strong foundation’ for partnership - analysis

Iranian President Hassan Rouhani spoke with his Turkish counterpart Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Tuesday. Iran’s Tasnim News Agency described the discussions, via video, as working to form the “strong foundation” for future work. Turkish pro-government media characterized the discussions as trending towards high level “cooperation.”

Iran and Turkey, along with Russia, have worked closely together in Syria, even though Turkey ostensibly backs the opposition Syrian rebels against the Russian-backed Syrian regime. Iran, Turkey and Russia all oppose the US presence in Syria and have worked to undermine America’s role. Iran and Turkey also oppose Israel and support Hamas. Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh recently met Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah in Lebanon. It’s unclear if Turkey or its Qatari ally will also support Hezbollah as part of the Iranian alliance.

Turkey has been increasing its aggressive threats against fellow NATO-member Greece, and also threatening Egypt, Cyprus, the UAE and other states in the region. It has invaded and occupied part of northern Syria and often bombs northern Iraq, claiming to be fighting militants. In recent years Ankara tried to get Tehran to work with it against far-left Kurdish insurgents. READ MORE