Iran experiencing Israel’s state terrorism: Erdogan

ISTANBUL: Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has said Israel’s state terrorism is being experienced by Iran, however, they have no doubt that the Iranian people will overcome this challenging phase.

Speaking at a foreign ministers’ meeting of the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation in Istanbul, Erdogan said measures taken by Iran in self-defence are legitimate and natural, as Netanyahu did not want any matter to be solved through diplomacy.

He said Israeli attacks on Iran were intended to undermine ongoing nuclear negotiations between the United States and Iran.

He said Israel continues to destabilize the region by targeting Yemen, Lebanon and Syria, adding that it had turned Gaza into a gigantic wreck.

The Turkish president said they are well aware of what Netanyahu wants to do and will not sit back and see the people of Gaza being punished with hunger and state terror.

Erdogan urged countries with influence over Israel not to listen to its “poison” and to seek a solution to the fighting via dialogue without allowing a wider conflict.

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He also called on Muslim countries to increase their efforts to impose punitive measures against Israel on the basis of international law and United Nations’ resolutions.

Meanwhile, with more than a week since the war begun between Iran and Israel, at least 430 people were listed as killed and 3,500 as wounded in Iran, Iranian state-run Nour News reported on Saturday, citing the country’s health ministry. Israel recently targetted a military installation in Shiraz but no casualities have been reported as per the ISNA agency.

Earlier on Saturday, Israel’s Defense Minister Israel Katz said that the military had killed a veteran commander in the Iranian Revolutionary Guards’ overseas arm, in a strike in an apartment in Iran’s Qom province.