On late Friday, the Turkish daily newspaper Hürriyet quoted an official of the Turkish foreign minister, stating that there was no agreement whatsoever between Turkey and Iran to aid the latter transferring arms supplies to Hezbollah.
Turkey: There Is No Agreement With Iran About Shipping Arms To Hezbollah On late Friday, the Turkish daily newspaper Hürriyet quoted an official of the Turkish foreign minister, stating that there was no agreement whatsoever between Turkey and Iran to aid the latter transferring arms supplies to Hezbollah. The statement came after a report by the Italian Corriere della Sera which claimed that Turkish and Iranian officials signed an agreement earlier this week according to which Turkey would in future assist Iran in providing Hezbollah with arms. “These claims are baseless and should not be taken seriously“, the official of the Turkish foreign ministry assured. Earlier this month, Israeli defense minister Ehud Barak expressed his displeasure at the close ties with Iran of the new head of the Turkish National Intelligence Organization (MIT), Hakan Fidan, who was appointed to the post previous April. In a briefing with party activists Barak called Fidan a “friend of Iran” and expressed his concern that secrets shared with Turkey could soon become “open to Iran”. The Turkish government showed itself irritated by Barak’s comments, summoning the Israeli envoy Gaby Levy to voice its protest. Turkish foreign ministry official told the news agency Reuters: “We expressed our discomfort and dissatisfaction with Barak's statement.”