Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan held a phone call with his newly appointed Iranian counterpart Abbas Araghchi, diplomatic sources said Sunday. Fidan congratulated Araghchi for his new job and the two diplomats discussed the situation in Gaza and developments in the region as well.
Araghchi, who served as deputy foreign minister during Hassan Rouhani's government, succeeded Hossein Amirabdollahian, who was killed in a plane crash on May 19. On Aug. 11, newly appointed President Masoud Pezeshkian nominated Araghchi as his top diplomat. After receiving a vote of confidence from the Islamic Consultative Assembly on Aug. 21, he was appointed foreign minister.
Ankara and Tehran are among staunch supporters of the Hamas liberation movement whose incursion into Israel in October 2023 was followed by Israel's ceaseless attacks on the Gaza Strip, which killed more than 40,000 people, mostly children and women. Iran has vowed a response to the killing of senior Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh in Tehran apparently by Israel, triggering alarm for the wider region as Türkiye accuses Tel Aviv of attempting to spread the conflict beyond Gaza.
Araghchi on Friday informed his French and British counterparts that his country does not want to expand the war in the region but reserves the right to respond to Israel's assassination of Haniyeh.
In a statement, the Iranian Foreign Ministry said Araghchi separately spoke over the phone with French Foreign Minister Stephane Sejourne and British Foreign Secretary David Lammy. The British secretary discussed with Araghchi the developments in Gaza and urged Iran to play a role in easing tension in the region, the statement said. Meanwhile, speaking to Sejourne, the Iranian foreign minister said that his country considers the assassination of Haniyeh in Tehran an "unforgivable violation of Iran's sovereignty and national security." He said that Iran reserves the right to respond to the assassination.
On the other hand, Araghchi said separately that they would seek to manage tensions with the United States, the main supporter of Israel.
"What we have to do is manage the tensions and hostilities" between Tehran and Washington, he said in an interview late Friday on state television. Iran and the United States have had no diplomatic relations since 1980, the year after the Islamic Revolution that toppled its Western-backed Shah Mohammed Reza. A landmark 2015 deal between Tehran and world powers granted Iran sanctions relief in return for curbs on its nuclear program. But the deal quickly collapsed and tensions reignited following the United States' unilateral withdrawal from the accord in 2018.
"In foreign policy, we have a duty to reduce as much as possible the cost of this hostility and reduce its pressure on the nation," said Araghchi, who was one of the key negotiators of the 2015 agreement.
He added that Iran's foreign policy will prioritize "neighboring countries" as well as African countries, along with China and Russia, among others.
Araghchi criticized European countries for having "adopted hostile policies" toward Iran in recent years. He said they would only "become a priority" when they "abandon their wrong and hostile policies."
During the interview, the foreign minister expressed Tehran's unwavering support "under any circumstances" for the so-called axis of resistance, a network of Iran-aligned armed groups across the Middle East opposed to Israel.