Leading Turkish official Fuat Oktay this week called for the dismantling of Israel’s alleged nuclear weapons stockpile. The head of parliament’s Foreign Affairs Committee said Israel’s nuclear capability should be “eliminated as soon as possible”.
Addressing the committee on Wednesday, he said Israel had launched a war on Iran over the latter’s nuclear ambitions, while itself maintaining a significant - albeit undeclared - nuclear arsenal.
For decades, Israel has pursued a policy it describes as “strategic ambiguity,” neither confirming nor denying the existence of a nuclear weapons programme.
Israeli officials say this policy provides a credible deterrent and contributes to regional stability. Successive governments have maintained that Israel would not be the first state in the region to introduce nuclear weapons into the Middle East.
Addressing the Foreign Affairs Committee, Oktay also warned that the Israeli-U.S. war on Iran - now in its second month - had expanded beyond its initial scope, affecting Iraq, Lebanon and the Arab Gulf states.
He said the ongoing partial closure of the Strait of Hormuz had disrupted trade and energy transit, adversely affecting the global economy.
“Although it is Israel’s war, the entire world is paying the price,” he said, adding that Israeli-U.S. military strikes on Iran lacked legitimacy under international law.
While Oktay acknowledged Tehran’s right to self-defence, he also criticised Iranian strikes on civilian infrastructure in neighbouring states, describing them as “unacceptable.”
Addressing lawmakers on the same day, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan also criticised Israel, describing it as the “main party” behind what he called an “unlawful war”.
He said the ongoing conflict - and Israel’s leading role in it - “has not only turned our region into a burning ground, but also placed an economic burden on all humanity”.
Türkiye, Erdoğan added, is “determined to stay away from this fire.”
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An agreement between Iran and the U.S. to reopen the Strait of Hormuz is expected "soon," a U.S. official has said. The deal would result in the resumption of commercial shipping through the sea passage and the lifting of an American naval blockade on Iranian ports.
Start your day informed with AnewZ Morning Brief. Here are the top news stories for the 8th of August, covering the latest developments.
U.S. President Donald Trump said negotiations to reopen the Strait of Hormuz are progressing and suggested an agreement with Iran could be reached “soon”.
U.S. President Donald Trump may have to accept concessions he previously opposed if he wants to secure a deal with Iran to reopen the Strait of Hormuz, according to analysts, as negotiators move closer to a temporary agreement.
A U.S. judge has ordered Meta to pay an additional $567 million over claims that its platforms failed to protect children from online harm.
Glacier coverage in Kyrgyzstan’s Issyk-Kul Basin has shrunk by 33.7 per cent over the past 70–90 years, according to an updated glacier inventory by Kyrgyzhydromet. The agency says the pace of glacier retreat has accelerated sharply in recent years.
Azerbaijan’s President Ilham Aliyev and Armenia’s Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan remarked upon progress made towards normalising relations between Baku and Yerevan in a phone call on the first anniversary of the Washington peace summit.
Tourists may soon be able to view Kazakhstan’s tourist sites by drone. Officials are planning to trial flights of between five and 30 minutes over landmarks in the country, its Ministry of Transport said.
Tashkent has begun work to open the Islam Karimov Memorial Complex to the public as part of plans for a 700-hectare green corridor linking major parks and public spaces across the Uzbek capital.
Kyrgyzstan has introduced mandatory permits for climbers attempting Victory Peak, imposing stricter safety and experience requirements following a series of fatal accidents on one of the world’s most dangerous mountains.
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