A visit by Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi to Turkey scheduled for today was cancelled after twin blasts in the southeastern Iranian province of Kerman on Wednesday, claiming dozens of lives, Iranian and Turkish officials have announced.
“Following the terrorist attacks in Kerman that martyred many Iranians, the president has canceled his visit to Turkey … this trip will take place in an appropriate time,” Mohammad Jamshidi, political deputy at Raisi’s office, told the state-run Islamic Republic News Agency (IRNA).
The explosions took place at a ceremony marking the fourth anniversary of the killing of Qasem Soleimani, a prominent Iranian Revolutionary Guards general. An early death toll of 103 was revised down to 83, but Iran’s health minister, Bahram Einollahi, said many of the wounded were in critical condition and that the toll could rise.
President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s communications directorate said in a message on X that Erdoğan and Raisi had spoken on the phone on Wednesday and agreed on the postponement of Raisi’s visit to Turkey to a later date.
Cumhurbaşkanımız Sayın Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, İran Cumhurbaşkanı İbrahim Reisi ile bir telefon görüşmesi gerçekleştirdi.
Cumhurbaşkanı Erdoğan görüşmede Reisi’ye, Kirman’da meydana gelen terör saldırısı nedeniyle başsağlığı dileklerini iletti.
Cumhurbaşkanı Erdoğan, sivilleri…
— T.C. İletişim Başkanlığı (@iletisim) January 3, 2024
Erdoğan condemned the attack, labelled as a “terrorist attack” by state media and regional authorities, and offered his condolences to the Iranian president during the phone call.
In November Raisi also failed to show up for a summit in Ankara that Erdoğan had earlier announced to reporters but which Tehran itself never officially confirmed.
Erdoğan had personally announced the Iranian president’s first official visit to Turkey on his return flight from a summit between regional leaders in Riyadh on November 11 that was also attended by Raisi. He said Raisi would visit Turkey on November 28.
The visit was also announced by Turkey’s state media and discussed on television.
But it was never officially confirmed by Raisi’s office or announced by the Iranian media.
Erdoğan has emerged as one of the Muslim world’s most outspoken critics of Israel’s onslaught on Gaza in response to Hamas militants’ October 7 attack.
He has branded Israel a “terrorist state” and called Iran-backed Hamas “a liberation group.”
But analysts believe that Iran wants Turkey to move past the rhetoric and cut its blossoming trade and energy relations with Israel.
Iran and Turkey share a 535-kilometer (330-mile) border and a complex history of close economic relations and opposing views on regional disputes.