“We reject those views completely,” said Iranian Foreign Minister Ali-Akbar Salehi, invalidating earlier threats made by Amir-Ali Hajizadeh, commander of the Pasdar aerospace division.
Hajizadeh had been speaking about NATO’s missile radar that Turkey has agreed to install on its territory. The radar is intended to detect any Iranian missiles fired at Europe and to signal anti-missile missiles deployed in Poland and Romania where to find the Iranian missiles in the sky.
Last month, Hajizadeh said, “We are prepared to first target the NATO defense missile shield in Turkey if we are threatened. And then we will move onto other targets.”
Earlier that same month, Turkish media quoted accounts by an Iranian newspaper about a Majlis deputy, Hossain Ebrahimi, saying it was Iran’s “right” to hit the missile shield, and that “Iran will definitely do that.”
Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu had expressed his country’s uneasiness over the comments emanating from Iran.
But Salehi tried to soothe things over by repudiating the militant remarks outright. “The Islamic Republic of Iran’s official stance on Turkey is based on deep brotherhood and friendship. Other statements are considered personal views.”
Turkish news outlets are now reporting that Turkey has accepted Salehi’s repudiation and will not make an issue of the threatening comments. That stands in contrast to Davutoglu’s refusal to smooth relations with Israel.