Name: Why is Turkey trying to mediate between the US and Iran? | DW News
Uploaded: 2026-01-31T11:57:59.000Z
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After days of escalating threats against Iran from the US Tehran is now entertaining overtures from Turkey to mediate deal making with the White House even as the United States builds up its military presence in the region.

The Iranian Foreign Minister, Abbas Arakchi, has been meeting with his Turkish counterpart to discuss the idea.

This comes after US President Donald Trump cooled threats of an imminent strike.

Our correspondent Julia Hahn is in Istanbul outside the venue where the foreign ministers have been meeting.

Julia, what is Turkey hoping to achieve by offering to be a mediator between Iran and the US.

Turkish officials, Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan in particular, have made it very clear that they are strongly opposed to any foreign military intervention in Iran because they say this could have serious detrimental consequences for the entire region.

And Turkey, as you know, is a direct neighbor of Iran.

So what we've seen in recent days is Turkey has stepped up its diplomatic efforts trying to ease tensions.

There have been meetings, phone calls with US Officials, but also with the Iranian government.

President Erdogan just today had a phone call with his Iranian counterpart, Mahmoud Pizzaski, and

where he's basically saying, look, we, Turkey, can step up and help try to, to ease tensions with the U.S.

turkey's foreign minister in an interview.

A TV interview earlier this week suggested to Washington a sort of step by step approach with Iran trying to tackle the nuclear issues first and then move on to other topics.

So not to confront them with an all or nothing ultimatum that would be very hard to digest for the Iranian leadership.

But of course, mediation can only succeed if all sides still have an interest in this and are giving it a chance.

Now, I want to play a short clip from President Trump last evening when he was asked by reporters about discussions with Iran.

Yes, we have a lot of very big, very powerful ships sailing to Iran right now and it would be great if we didn't have to use them.

Can you say what the message was that you shared with Iranians?

Number one, no nuclear and number two, stop killing protesters.

Now you Mr. Trump's threatening posture and talk has softened a bit.

But what worries Turkey most about a possible strike?

Well, Turkey is one of many countries here in the region who do not want to see the US Strike Iran.

Turkey has some very serious security concerns.

They share a 500 kilometer long border with Iran.

So they say there could be a new influx of refugees.

There could be missile drone strikes on Turkish territory, a disruption to energy supplies.

And then let's not forget that Iran has also threatened to attack in retaliation if there was a U.S.

That's an important US And NATO installation near the city of Adana.

And they also host a U.S. army radar site.

So any sort of Iranian attacks on these sides could lead to the situation spiraling out of control.

And this is something that Turkey definitely does not want to see.

Now, Turkey and Iran, as you said, they're neighbors, but they're not exactly friends.

Where was Turkey's standing on the anti government protests and the crackdown on these protests?

Well, the Turkish Iranian relationship is is a strategic rivalry here in the region.

The Turkish government has not forward in support of the anti regime protests that we've seen earlier this month in Iran.

They have even banned gatherings of Iranians who wanted to protest here in Istanbul in support of their fellow citizens inside Iran.

Although the Turkish government has sort of acknowledged that there are problems inside Iran, particularly economic problems that are driving people to the streets.

But they have framed this as sort of a domestic problem that Iran somehow has to find a solution for.

They have made it very clear that they do not want to see regime change in Iran by external force.

And I think that explains why they are stepping up efforts, as I said, to mediate the crisis.

Now, our correspondent Julia Hahn there reporting from Istanbul.