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Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan said Saturday that U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio told him Washington has no intention of arming Kurdish groups in Iran, a direct response to reports that have rattled Ankara as the U.S.-Israeli military campaign against Tehran enters its second week.
Fidan made the disclosure at a press conference following an informal meeting of the Organization of Turkic States (OTS) foreign ministers council in Istanbul, where the conflict in Iran dominated the agenda. The Turkish diplomat also reaffirmed that Türkiye is pursuing every available diplomatic channel to help bring the war to an end.
The Kurdish question has been among the most sensitive fault lines for Ankara since the U.S.-Israeli operation, dubbed "Operation Epic Fury," began on Feb. 28. Multiple reports earlier this week from CNN, Axios and Reuters indicated that the CIA was working to arm Iranian Kurdish opposition groups and coordinate a potential ground offensive from northern Iraq into northwestern Iran, a scenario that touches on one of Türkiye's deepest security anxieties.
Rubio's reported assurance to Fidan marks an apparent effort by Washington to manage the diplomatic fallout with its NATO ally. Earlier this week, Rubio told Congress in a closed-door briefing that the U.S. was "not arming the Kurds," though he added ambiguously, "but you never know with the Israelis."
Fidan's comments came against the backdrop of an increasingly complex balancing act for Ankara, which has condemned the U.S.-Israeli strikes on Iran while maintaining close ties with Washington. Türkiye depends on Iran for roughly a fifth of its natural gas imports, and instability across its eastern border raises the specter of fresh refugee flows into a country already hosting more than three million Syrian refugees.
Fidan said Monday that Türkiye had worked behind the scenes to prevent the military campaign and had managed to delay the onset of hostilities through diplomatic intervention. At Saturday'spress conference, he reiterated that Ankara continues all diplomatic contacts aimed at ending the war.
Fidan also drew attention to a statement by Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian, who earlier apologized to neighboring Arab Gulf states for the collateral impact of Iranian retaliatory strikes on U.S. military installations in the region. Fidan highlighted Pezeshkian's pledge that Tehran would not attack countries that do not attack it, calling it a statement "we underline."
Since the war began on Feb. 28, Iran has launched hundreds of missiles and drones targeting U.S. bases across at least nine countries in the region, including Bahrain, Kuwait, Qatar and the UAE, as well as strikes on Israel. The retaliatory barrages killed six U.S. service members in Kuwait and caused civilian casualties and infrastructure damage across the Gulf. Pezeshkian's apology and his subsequent clarification, that Iran would cease strikes on neighbors who do not cooperate in the American campaign against it, represented a notable shift in tone from Tehran.
Fidan reiterated Türkiye's condemnation of attacks targeting third countries, stating, "I want to emphasize once again that we condemn in the strongest terms attacks that target third countries."
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Fidan's press conference came on the same day that fresh details emerged about Washington's own diplomatic outreach in the region. According to Axios, Rubio told Arab foreign ministers during a series of phone calls on Thursday that the war is expected to last "several more weeks," with the current military focus on destroying Iran's missile launchers, stockpiles and manufacturing facilities.
Rubio reportedly told the ministers that the U.S. goal is not regime change, while simultaneously making clear that Washington wants different leadership in Tehran. He said there is no ongoing dialogue with the Iranian government and that any negotiations at this stage would undermine military objectives.
Separately, White House spokesperson Karoline Leavitt told reporters Friday that President Donald Trump expects the operation to last four to six weeks and that he intends to be involved in discussions about Iran's future leadership.
The U.S.-Israeli campaign has killed more than 1,000 people in Iran, including Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, over 150 schoolgirls in a strike near a military base, and several senior military officials. Iran has continued to retaliate, though U.S. and Israeli officials say the pace and scope of Iranian attacks have significantly decreased. On Friday, Israeli jets struck a fortified bunker beneath Khamenei's former compound that the military said had been used by senior Iranian officials in recent days.
For Türkiye, the convergence of the Kurdish question, the broader war and the humanitarian consequences across the region has made Ankara's diplomatic maneuvering all the more urgent. Fidan's message Saturday was clear: Türkiye expects Washington to keep its word on the Kurds, even as the fog of a widening conflict makes guarantees increasingly difficult to secure.
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