Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu had telephone talks with the Turkish national intelligence chief and the chief of Iran’s general staff, local news agencies reported, citing the Russian defense ministry, according to Reuters.
Shoigu and the head of Turkey’s National Intelligence Organization, Hakan Fidan, discussed possible joint actions to reduce tensions in the Middle East after the United States killed a senior Iranian military commander in Iraq on Friday, Interfax reported the Russian defense ministry as saying.
The United States last week killed Qasem Soleimani, the architect of Iran’s growing influence in the Middle East, in an overnight attack in Baghdad authorized by President Donald Trump.
Iran has promised retaliation and on Friday condemned Trump as a “terrorist in a suit.”