Israel isn’t the only Middle Eastern country worried about the deal reached between world powers and Iran over the latter’s nuclear program on Thursday – on Friday, Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said he hopes stricter limits will be imposed on the Islamic regime.
Cavusoglu, who in the past served as a mediator between Iran and the West, said the demands on Iran from the deal are even more lax than those reached in 2010 negotiations, calling for Iran to be pressed into additional concessions.
“When we look at the positions (of the) P5+1 (world powers) right now, Iran is still below the line we were able to bring in (previous negotiations) in 2010, but we hope Iran will come to that line,” said Cavusoglu, according to Reuters.
Iran and Turkey have had mixed relations amid the shifting regional power paradigms in which Iran is seeking greater influence via terror proxies and direct intervention in Lebanon, Yemen, Iraq and Syria.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan is scheduled to visit Tehran on Sunday, but after saying that Iran is trying to “dominate the Middle East,” Iranian parliamentarians threatened to cancel the visit.
Erdogan responded by saying the visit would go ahead as planned, undeterred by the tense backlash.
Another potential manifestation of pressure between the two countries was seen on Tuesday, when massive blackouts sent wide swathes of Turkey into darkness. Iranian hackers were suspected of being behind the incident, although it has yet to be fully clarified.