Raisi, Erdogan pledge to contain Gaza violence

ANKARA: Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said Wednesday that he and visiting Iranian counterpart Ebrahim Raisi agreed on the need to avert the Israel-Hamas war from engulfing the entire Middle East region.
But Raisi countered that it was important for all countries to cut off trade with Israel — an apparent reference to Turkiye’s steadfast refusal to do so that underscored tensions in Ankara’s ties with Tehran.
The hard-line Iranian leader was paying his first official visit to Turkiye since his 2021 election for talks originally aimed at ironing out a raft of problems between the historically close but uneasy neighbors.
The trip was delayed twice by the rapid escalation of the war in Gaza and a brutal bomb attack in Iran claimed by Daesh group militants that killed 89 people earlier this month.
Erdogan told a joint media appearance in Ankara that the two leaders agreed on the need to contain the violence in Gaza and to step up their fight against “terrorism.”
“We agreed on the importance of avoiding steps that would further threaten the security and stability of our region,” Erdogan said.
Raisi arrived in Turkiye less than a day after the United States and Britain conducted a new wave of joint air strikes against Iranian-backed Houthis in Yemen in response to the rebels’ attacks on Red Sea shipping lanes.