Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan said on Tuesday that Iran’s strategy of bombing Gulf countries “without making any distinction” was “an incredibly wrong strategy,” warning that the conflict is spilling across the region and raising risks for energy security and stability.
Speaking to state broadcaster TRT Haber, Fidan said the Middle East was living through “extremely critical” days after the United States and Israel launched military strikes on Iran on Feb. 28.
“The region has suffered major pain and wars over the past 20 years,” he said, adding that the latest conflict was not confined to Iran alone.
“When we look at the effects of the war, as we had predicted earlier, it is spreading across the entire region,” he said.
U.S. President Donald Trump announced on Saturday the start of Operation Epic Fury, saying the operation killed Iran’s Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei and senior military officials.
Fidan said Tehran responded with drone and missile attacks targeting Israel as well as Gulf countries that host U.S. assets.
He said Iran, when it perceives an existential threat, adopts a mindset of “if I go down, I will take the region with me,” targeting other countries—particularly energy infrastructure.
“Iran knows very well how vital the energy infrastructure in key regional countries is for the global economy, stability and energy security, and it carries out its attacks accordingly,” he said.
Fidan said Tehran was seeking to pressure its adversaries through such actions, while the war’s duration remained uncertain and open to competing assessments.
Two possible objectives
Fidan said he saw two broad aims on the side of those conducting the strikes: degrading Iran’s military capability, or a military campaign intended to force regime change.
“The duration of the war, its form, its spread, and the risks it poses will all change according to these two objectives,” he said. “These are two very different concepts.”
He said regional countries were working to develop a common stance and prevent further escalation.
“As a region, we are working on how to prevent this situation from getting worse,” he said.
Fidan said many Gulf states had tried to prevent the conflict and that Qatar’s prime minister and foreign minister continued efforts to avert it “up to an hour” before the strikes.
“They were actually acting in a way that would have benefited Iran,” he said. “Despite this, Iran’s bombing of Oman as a mediator, Qatar, Kuwait, Bahrain, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Jordan — all of these places without making any distinction — is, in my view, an incredibly wrong strategy.”
Such actions “significantly” increase regional risks, he said, adding that Türkiye also views them as wrong.
Pre-war contacts with Iran and U.S.
Fidan said Türkiye held talks with both Iran and the United States ahead of the conflict.
He referred to President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s phone call with Trump on Jan. 27, saying Washington at that time was close to a decision on an attack.
Fidan also said he hosted Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi in Istanbul on Jan. 30.
He said Washington wanted to resolve the dispute by placing four demands on Iran, an approach Tehran rejected. Türkiye, he added, proposed a framework in which the two sides would split the demands for discussion—two handled directly, and two discussed by regional countries.
“We actually created this discussion architecture beforehand,” he said, adding that the Americans had initially agreed.
According to Fidan, Araghchi said he would seek approval from Iranian decision-making authorities, but Iran later reverted to its previous negotiating format.
Fidan said a war that looked imminent in early February was temporarily avoided, but talks later drifted amid what he described as growing pressure on Washington.
“On the one hand, there is immense pressure from Israel,” he said. “I believe that if the Iranians had better understood the decision-making pressure President Trump was facing and offered something earlier, Israel’s pressure might not have been as effective.”
‘The actor that will stop Israel is America’
On ceasefire efforts, Fidan said Iran appeared more open to a truce, but that persuading Washington would require a carefully structured proposal that Tehran could accept as well.
“The appropriate negotiating actor must present it in a way where no one appears humiliated, no one looks like they are losing, and everyone emerges as if they have gained,” he said.
Fidan said Türkiye could serve as a mediator if needed, but argued that any proposal must first be developed in substance.
“At this point, the actor that will stop Israel is America,” he said, adding that Gulf countries, Türkiye and European states would be among those most affected by the conflict’s possible trajectories.
He said diplomats were in close contact and exchanging views, though he declined to provide details.
Energy shock, expansion fears, migration risk
Fidan said Ankara had convened intensive interagency coordination meetings involving the Foreign Ministry, the National Defense Ministry and the National Intelligence Organization to assess evolving scenarios.
He said Erdoğan was briefed almost hourly as part of what he described as a well-institutionalized crisis management process.
Energy markets were the first to react, he said, warning that ripple effects could include shortages in Europe and renewed inflationary pressure.
He also cautioned that the war could widen if countries targeted in the strikes exercise their right to retaliate, and said regional counterparts had told him that not only U.S. bases but also energy infrastructure and civilian facilities were being hit.
“This risk of expansion frankly worries us,” he said.
Fidan said Ankara was tracking Turkish nationals in the region daily through the Foreign Ministry’s Consular Call Center, while heavy military air traffic has effectively halted civilian flights.
He also acknowledged concerns about a potential migration wave across Türkiye’s 534-kilometer (332-mile) border with Iran if the conflict drags on, saying preparations were in place for worst-case scenarios.
Intelligence and modern warfare
Fidan said Iran has long operated with a war mentality but has not faced this type of attack on its territory since the Iran-Iraq War, and largely acted through proxy forces abroad.
He said modern warfare must be assessed through intelligence, security, military operations and timing, citing the importance of cyber and signals intelligence, electronic warfare and imagery capabilities.
“If you have not done your homework and developed capabilities in these areas, you should not even engage in verbal confrontation with Israel or the U.S.,” he said.
Fidan said Türkiye’s security, military and intelligence institutions, as well as its defense industry, have drawn lessons from recent conflicts including the war in Ukraine.
Gaza warning
Turning to Gaza, Fidan said the broader regional war had not improved conditions in the besieged Palestinian enclave and warned that provocations could undermine fragile ceasefire arrangements there.
“Our eyes and ears are there,” he said, adding that Türkiye was working to halt the wider conflict while addressing humanitarian concerns in Gaza, particularly aid deliveries.
