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President Recep Tayyip Erdogan spoke by telephone with Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian to discuss the ceasefire and the security situation in the region, pledging Ankara's continued involvement in efforts to forge a durable settlement and warning against allowing spoilers to derail the fragile diplomatic process.
According to a statement from the Turkish Presidential Communications Directorate, Erdogan told Pezeshkian that Türkiye had worked intensively alongside relevant countries in the lead-up to the ceasefire. He urged that the negotiations set to begin in the coming days be used to the fullest extent possible to achieve lasting peace and stability, stressing that it was critical not to give those seeking to undermine the process an opening to act.
Erdogan also reiterated Türkiye's condolences to the Iranian people for their losses, and said Ankara stood ready to contribute alongside friendly nations in the new phase ahead. He framed Türkiye's overarching ambition in the region as establishing what he described as "a new climate of common sense and dialogue."
Türkiye, a NATO member with extensive economic and political ties to Iran, has long sought to position itself as a bridge between Western capitals and Tehran, a posture that has periodically placed it at odds with alliance partners.
The two leaders also addressed the security situation in the region more broadly, according to the directorate's statement.
The conversation comes as a two-week ceasefire between the United States and Iran, announced this week, has brought a fragile pause to weeks of conflict. Peace talks are expected to take place in Islamabad. Iran has confirmed its participation in those discussions, though profound uncertainty remains over their scope and outcome, including over Lebanon and the Strait of Hormuz.
Erdogan's call to Pezeshkian is the latest in a series of high-level diplomatic contacts by regional leaders since the ceasefire was announced, reflecting both the stakes and the complexity of the road ahead.
Türkiye's top diplomat Hakan Fidan on Thursday also cautioned that Israel posed a direct threat to the fragile diplomatic process surrounding U.S.-Iran nuclear negotiations, urging the international community to be prepared to push back against any Israeli move to obstruct the talks, which are set to begin Saturday in Islamabad.
Speaking at a joint press conference in Ankara alongside Syrian Foreign Minister Asaad Hassan al-Shaibani, Fidan said both Washington and Tehran had demonstrated willingness to compromise, pointing to shifts in their negotiating positions and a broad global consensus that further military strikes on Iran would be a mistake.
He acknowledged that the current two-week ceasefire window may prove too narrow for the complexity of the issues on the table, including Iran's nuclear program and broader regional security questions, but said the truce could be extended by mutual agreement. "If the parties reach a mutual understanding, the ceasefire can be extended for a while longer and talks can continue," he said.
Fidan also leveled sharp criticism at the Netanyahu government, accusing Israel of expanding its military campaign from Gaza into Lebanon, where strikes were continuing to kill civilians, and called on international players to curb what he described as Israeli "expansionism."
"The world needs this, the region needs this," he said of the diplomatic opening, adding that regional countries stood ready to contribute constructively to a durable settlement.
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