Iran hails Turkey action in halting trade ties with Israel

Amir-Abdollahian met and held talks with his Turkish counterpart Hakan Fidan on the sidelines of the 15th OIC summit in Gambia on Saturday night.

During the meeting, the two Iranian and Turkish top diplomats conferred on the latest regional developments and the bilateral relations between Tehran and Ankara.

Referring to the recent decision of the Turkish government to halt trade ties with the Tel Aviv regime, Amir-Abdollahian described the anti-Zionist step as an important move.

On Saturday, Turkish Trade Ministry announced that Ankara has completely stopped trade with Israel. 

"Export-import operations with Israel have been stopped for all groups of goods," the ministry said in a statement.

Turkey's trade sanctions will remain in force until Israel declares a ceasefire in the Gaza Strip and ensures the delivery of humanitarian aid to the region, the ministry said

Amir-Abdollahian also touched upon Iran's retaliatory attack on Israel, saying that the military action was in line with Iran's legitimate right to self-defense.

The Israeli regime attacked Iran's consulate in the Syrian capital of Damascus on April 1. The Israeli aggression led to the destruction of the entire building and the martyrdom and injury of the entire people inside it.

Seven of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) military advisors were martyred following the Israeli attack on Iran's consulate in Damascus, IRGC said in a statement.

In response to the Israeli aggression, Iran attacked the Israeli-occupied Palestinian territories with a barrage of drones and missiles early on Sunday.

Following the attack, Iran announced that it does not seek to create tension in the region and had carried out the anti-Zionist operation to punish the Zionist regime. However, the Iranian political and military officials have strongly warned that the country would give a severe response in case of any fresh Israeli aggression.

Elsewhere in their conversation, Amir-Abdollahian and Fidan stressed the need to pursue the agreements reached between the two countries during the visit of the Iranian president to Turkey and activate the joint cooperation committees in different fields.

Fidan, for his part, said that developing relations with Tehran in all fields is one of Ankara's priorities, and welcomed the strengthening of cooperation between the two countries in regional and international forums.

Saying that Turkey considers the issue of Palestine as the most important issue of the Islamic world, Fidan stressed the need for the Islamic states to play a more active role in this regard.

Israel waged a genocidal war on the besieged Gaza on October 7 after the Palestinian Hamas Resistance group carried out a historic operation against the occupying entity in retaliation for the regime’s intensified atrocities against the Palestinian people.

At least 34,596 Palestinians have been killed and 77,816 wounded in Israeli attacks on Gaza since October 7.

Israel has imposed a complete siege on the densely populated territory, cutting off fuel, electricity, food, and water to the more than two million Palestinians living there.