Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan warned that a war between Israel and Iran must be seen as a high possibility, amid ongoing regional crises.

“We need to be prepared for this as a country and region,” Fidan told a live broadcast Thursday, adding that Ankara does not want the war to expand across the region and has been working tirelessly to put an end to the conflicts that have devastated the Middle East in the past two decades.

Speaking on a live TV programme, Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan pointed out that Iran was entitled to self-defence in the face of attacks.

He added that Ankara was opposed to any expansion of the conflict and was concentrating all its efforts to end the fighting in the region.

Regarding reports about the assassination of Hamas’ leader Yahya Sinwar, Fidan said they would wait until the Palestinian resistance group makes a statement.

The top Turkish diplomat said Ankara had predicted that Israel would try to annihilate Hamas, Hezbollah and the Houthis and that its attacks on Lebanon did not come as a surprise.

He continued by saying that the biggest concern since Oct. 7 has been Israel’s potential to open new fronts across the region and Tel Aviv has been striving toward this goal.

“Right now, we’re facing intertwined events… a genocide is taking place in Gaza, while there’s also Lebanon and there’s also the possibility of war with Iran,” Fidan said, adding that all of them have different dynamics.

He noted that some countries had already had problems with Iran and its proxies before the Gaza war as he said it was “unfortunate” that this issue has become interlaced with the Palestinian issue and that most countries in the region are not in a position to stand up against Israel.

Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi will be visiting Türkiye, as well as Jordan and Egypt, this week to discuss ways to stop Israel’s war on the Gaza Strip.