The head of Türkiye’s National Intelligence Organization has warned that the ongoing war involving Israel, the US, and Iran risks escalating into a wider global crisis if it continues.
Speaking at the STRATCOM Summit 2026 in Istanbul on Saturday, Ibrahim Kalin said: “Since the pandemic, our world has been going through many critical thresholds, crises, and ruptures.”
The Russia-Ukraine war that began in 2022 recently entered its fifth year, and there is still no clear picture of how it will end, he said.
Kalin also said the consequences of the Israeli genocidal war on Gaza that began on October 7, 2023, continue to be felt.
“While efforts to realise peace in Gaza continue, Israel’s violations and its policies of occupation and annexation continue without interruption,” he said.
On developments in the region, Kalin said the 12-day Israel-Iran war last June tested the conditions of the current Iran conflict.
“We are currently in the middle of the Israel/US-Iran war that began on February 28 and has continued for about a month,” he said.
Kalin said Türkiye has made intense diplomatic efforts to prevent the Iran war from emerging and to stop it from spreading, warning that it risks expanding beyond the region.
“Unfortunately, the regional war initiated by Israel is rapidly moving towards becoming a global crisis,” as the Turkish president has warned, he said. It risks becoming a “war for which eight billion people will pay the price.”
“Our entire effort is first and foremost for this war to end as soon as possible,” he said.
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Türkiye has never fueled the fire of discord
He also warned that the conflict could deepen divisions in the region.
“One of the calculated outcomes of this war is not only the elimination of Iran’s nuclear capacity but, more dangerously, steps laying the groundwork for decades of fratricidal conflict among the region’s founding peoples – Turks, Kurds, Arabs, and Persians,” he said.
Kalin stressed that Türkiye will not contribute to such divisions.
“Türkiye has never been and never will be a party that fuels the fire of discord,” he said. “If necessary, we will take the fireball in our hands and cool it on our chest, but we will never throw it into the fire of discord.”
He said the war against Iran lacks legal grounds under international law.