AFP Asia Business

Turkey will offer to mediate between Washington and Tehran during a visit by Iran’s foreign minister on Friday, officials said, as Ankara considers reinforcing security along its border should the dispute escalate. Friday’s visit by Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi comes after US President Donald Trump threatened a military strike on Iran over its deadly protest crackdown earlier this month. A US naval strike group arrived in Middle East waters on Monday with Trump warning it was “ready, willing and able” to hit Iran “if necessary”. Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan will tell Araghchi on Friday that his country “is ready to contribute to resolving the current tensions through dialogue”, a Turkish diplomatic source said. Fidan would reiterate Turkey’s opposition “to military interventions against Iran… (over) the regional and global risks such a step would entail”, said the source, requesting anonymity because of the sensitivity of the talks. The minister had on Wednesday stressed the need for Washington and Tehran to resume discussions over the Iranian nuclear programme, suggesting that was the top priority to be resolved. “It’s wrong to attack Iran. It’s wrong to start the war again. Iran is ready to negotiate on the nuclear file again,” Fidan had told Al-Jazeera television.”Turkey supports reaching a peaceful solution to Iran’s nuclear programme in the near term and is ready to provide assistance if needed in this regard,” the foreign ministry source said.Iran’s foreign ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baqaei confirmed the visit, saying on X that Tehran “is determined to continuously strengthen relations with its neighbours based on the policy of good neighbourliness and common interests”. – Contingency plans -Alongside its diplomatic push, Ankara is assessing additional security precautions along its border with Iran if a US strike destabilises the country, a senior Turkish official told AFP.Much of the 500-kilometre (310-mile) frontier is secured by a wall, but “it has proven insufficient”, said the official, who requested anonymity. The Turkish authorities have so far avoided the term “buffer zone” but options under review include deploying more troops and expanding technological surveillance systems, the official added. Turkey began building a concrete wall in 2021 as concerns grew about a potential influx of migrants following the Taliban’s takeover of Afghanistan.So far, officials say there is no sign of mass movement toward Turkey linked to developments in Iran. Earlier this month, the defence ministry said it had detected “no evidence” of large‑scale migration.Unmanned aerial vehicles continue to conduct round-the-clock reconnaissance along the frontier.To date, authorities have completed installation of 203 electro‑optical towers, 43 lift towers, 380 kilometres of modular concrete wall, and 553 kilometres of trenches, according to official figures.burs-fo/hmw/ach 

EU foreign ministers are expected to agree Thursday to put Iran’s Revolutionary Guards on the bloc’s “terrorist list” after a deadly crackdown on mass protests, the EU’s foreign policy chief said.”If you act as a terrorist, you should also be treated as terrorists,” top diplomat Kaja Kallas told journalists ahead of the ministers’ meeting in Brussels.She said the step puts the Revolutionary Guards on the same level as jihadist groups such as Al-Qaeda and the Islamic State group.The symbolic move from the EU will send a strong message of condemnation to Iran after thousands were reported killed during the protests that rocked the country.The 27-nation bloc is also set to approve visa bans and asset freezes on 21 state entities and Iranian officials — expected to include the country’s interior minister — over the brutal repression. Iranian authorities acknowledge that thousands were killed during the protests, giving a toll of over 3,000 people, but say the majority were members of the security forces or bystanders killed by “rioters”. Rights groups dispute this, saying the toll is far higher and potentially in the tens of thousands, and noting that protesters were killed by security forces including the Revolutionary Guards (IRGC) directly firing on them.- France, Italy shift -The IRGC is the ideological arm of Tehran’s military and was created after the 1979 revolution to protect the clerical leadership. The Guards control or own companies across the Iranian economy, including major strategic sectors.”The estimate is that still the diplomatic channels will remain open even after the listing of the Revolutionary Guards,” Kallas said.  The expected greenlight for blacklisting the IRGC came after France announced Wednesday it was backing the move, following a similar shift from Italy. Paris had widely been seen as reluctant to brand the IRGC as a terror group due to fears over the impact on Europeans detained in the country and a wish to keep diplomatic ties open. “There can be no impunity for the crimes committed,” French Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot told reporters on arrival in Brussels.”This decision is also an appeal by France to the Iranian authorities to release the prisoners thrown by thousands into the regime’s prisons, to end the executions that are perpetuating the most violent repression in Iran’s modern history,” he said.Barrot urged Tehran to end an internet blackout and “give back to the Iranian people the capacity to choose their own future.”The EU has already sanctioned several hundred Iranian officials and entities over crackdowns on previous protest movements and over Tehran’s support for Russia’s war on Ukraine.The IRGC as a whole and senior commanders are already under EU sanctions, meaning that a move to add them to the terror blacklist is expected to have little practical impact on the organisation.