Erdogan rejects foreign intervention, urges calm in call with Pezeshkian
Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan held a phone call on Thursday with his Iranian counterpart Masoud Pezeshkian in which he expressed opposition to any foreign intervention in Iran and Ankara's desire for peace and stability in the country.
The conversation is among the only known senior-level contacts between Tehran and a neighbor since authorities crushed nationwide protests this month, killing thousands.
Erdogan added to Pezeshkian that the resolution of problems in Iran without further escalation would benefit Turkey as well, the statement added.
"As for Iran, everyone is waiting to see what America will do. And the world offers nothing, Europe offers nothing, and does not want to enter this issue as a supporter of the Iranian people and the democracy they need," Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said at the World Economic Forum on Thursday.
“There was so much talk about the protests in Iran, but they drowned in blood," he added.
"By the time politicians started forming positions, the Ayatollah had already killed thousands … What will Iran become after this bloodshed? If the regime survives, it sends a clear signal to every bully: kill enough people and you stay in power,”
Austrian lawmaker Helmut Brandstätter said Iran’s leadership was losing control as public fear ebbed, calling on Europe to step up support for the country’s opposition.
“The regime is losing the fear of the people – now we must strengthen the opposition,” Brandstätter, a member of the European Parliament, wrote on X.
He said Iran mattered to Europe not only on human rights grounds but also for security and social reasons.
“Why should Iran concern us?” he wrote. “Because cyberattacks threaten us all. Because Iranian citizens are part of our societies. Because human rights are universal.”
The number of civilians killed in Iran’s crackdown on protests may be more than 20,000, the UN special rapporteur on human rights in Iran said, citing reports from doctors inside the country, Bloomberg reported.
Mai Sato said earlier this week that civilian deaths were estimated at 5,000 or more, adding that medical reports suggested the toll could be far higher, at about 20,000 or more.
Israeli President Isaac Herzog said on Wednesday that the Iranian people deserved a change of leadership, describing Tehran as oppressive and accusing it of widespread abuses.
Speaking at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Herzog said: “The Iranian people are yearning for change. The Iranian people deserve change. They deserve a decent life.”
He added: “The Iranian people live under a very oppressive regime. A regime which has mowed thousands of its citizens and is torturing and is jailing and is destroying thousands of families, perhaps tens of thousands, perhaps much more all around Iran.”
Herzog said the authorities were trying to suppress what he described as basic human demands.
“They are trying to crush the natural demand of human beings for better life and for freedom,” he said.
He said he hoped Iran would undergo political change.
“I sincerely hope and pray that there will be a change in Iran because Iran deserves better, the region deserves better, the world deserves better,” Herzog said.
He said Iranians were suffering from shortages and economic hardship.
“The people are suffering tremendously. There’s shortage of food and water and so many other basic needs. The economy is in shambles,” he said.
Herzog added: “The future for the Iranian people can only be in a regime change,” saying this should ultimately be decided by Iranians themselves with international support.
“That has to be, at the end, within the realms of the Iranian people and the international community and its support,” he said.
He also said: “It’s clear to me that the Ayatollah is in quite a fragile situation.”
The number of civilians killed in Iran’s crackdown on protests may be more than 20,000, the UN special rapporteur on human rights in Iran said, citing reports from doctors inside the country, Bloomberg reported.
Mai Sato said earlier this week that civilian deaths were estimated at 5,000 or more, adding that medical reports suggested the toll could be far higher, at about 20,000 or more.
The US-based Human Rights Activist News Agency (HRANA) said it has verified 4,902 deaths since unrest erupted in late December and is reviewing a further 9,387 suspected fatalities, while more than 26,000 people have been arrested, according to a statement on its website.
Iran’s National Security Council on Wednesday issued its first official toll, reporting 3,117 deaths, including 2,427 described as “innocent,” among them members of the security forces, without providing a civilian breakdown.
Iran International reported earlier this month that more than 12,000 people were killed during the crackdown largely on January 8 and 9.
