Iran’s FM visits Ankara after allegations of targeting Israelis in Turkey
QAMISHLI, Syria (North Press) – Iranian Minister of Foreign Affairs Hossein Amir-Abdollahian is visiting Ankara on Monday after Tehran rejected an Israeli claims that Iran was planning to launch attacks against its citizens in Turkey.
The visit comes four days after Israel’s Foreign Minister Yair Lapid thanked Turkey for thwarting an Iranian plot that targets Israeli citizens in Istanbul.
The Turkish Ministry of Foreign Affairs said in a statement that the Iranian Foreign Minister will visit Turkey on Monday to discuss bilateral issues and the regional and international developments.
In turn, the Iranian Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokesman Saeed Khatibzadeh rejected the Israeli claims in statement on Friday “The baseless allegations… are ridiculous and part of a pre-designed plot to destroy relations between the two Muslim countries.”
Last week, Turkey arrested eight individuals of an alleged Iranian cell who were planning to kill Israelis including a former ambassador ahead of Lapid’s visit to Ankara, according to The Times of Israel.
“Significant intelligence had indicated that Iran was seeking to carry out attacks against Israeli tourists in Turkey to avenge a series of killings and strikes on Iranian military and nuclear targets that have been attributed to the Jewish state,” according to Lapid and other Israeli officials.
In a briefing to Hebrew media on June 24 a senior security official said that the Mossad and local partners had recently thwarted three Iranian attacks targeting Israeli civilians in Istanbul.
Last week Israel urged its citizens to leave Turkey because of the “real and immediate danger” of Iranian operatives.