US Diplomat in Turkey Calls for Allied Pressure on Iran To Prevent Escalation
The United States is actively working to persuade Turkey and other allies with ties to Iran to push Tehran towards de-escalation, the US ambassador to Turkey said.
Speaking with journalists at a pre-planned group interview in Istanbul, Ambassador Jeff Flake emphasized that the US was utilizing every diplomatic tool at its disposal to prevent Iran from taking extreme actions.
“We ask all of our allies that have any relations with Iran to prevail on them to de-escalate, and that includes Turkey.”
This holiday season, give to:
Truth and understanding
The Media Line's intrepid correspondents are in Israel, Gaza, Lebanon, Syria and Pakistan providing first-person reporting.
They all said they cover it.
We see it.
We report with just one agenda: the truth.
While relations between Ankara and Washington have been strained in recent years, Flake, who is approaching the end of his tenure as Washington’s top diplomat in Turkey, told reporters that he believes the two countries’ bilateral relationship is “in a better place than [it’s] been in a while.”
Flake commended his Turkish counterparts for their efforts to prevent a wider regional conflict, claiming that they “seem more confident than we are that it won’t escalate.”
The former US senator also praised Turkey for helping facilitate the historic 7-nation prisoner swap between the US and Russia.
“They weren’t involved in the negotiation side, but on the logistics side, they played a significant role,” Flake said as the swap itself was hosted in Ankara.
Despite this, the US and Turkey remain divided on several key issues, namely Washington’s support for armed Kurdish groups in Syria, Turkey’s purchase of S-400 air defense systems from Russia, and the war in Gaza.
The antagonistic public rhetoric levied at Israel by Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan has made it “very difficult” for Ankara to play a more hands-on role in ceasefire negotiations, Flake confirmed on Monday.
