Turkey feels “deep sorrow” over the US-Israeli attack on Iran, the country’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said at an event in Istanbul late on Saturday (February 28), as reported by state news provider Anadolu Agency.

Erdogan’s comments came following a lengthy silence in the wake of the start of hostilities that began early in the day.

He was further reported as saying that the attacks " began with provocations by [Israeli PM Benjamin] Netanyahu".

Turkey, he added, deplores the joint US-Israeli operations that “clearly violate Iran's sovereignty and threaten the peace of the friendly and brotherly Iranian people”.

Turning to Iran’s response to the US-Israeli attacks, which has involved firing missiles at US military bases and other targets in Gulf countries, Erdogan reportedly said: "Regardless of the reason, we consider Iran's missile and drone attacks on our brotherly countries in the Gulf unacceptable.”

He concluded that if common sense does not prevail and diplomacy is not given a chance of success, “our region faces the risk of being dragged into a ring of fire”.

“To prevent further bloodshed and spare our region from greater suffering, all actors—especially the Islamic world— must take urgent action,” added Erdogan in the reported remarks.

Erdogan is sometimes accused of being loudly and fiercely critical of Israel and Netanyahu – he has frequently referred to the Israeli leader as a “Hitler” – but of doing next to nothing in practical terms to oppose Israeli foreign policy objectives backed by the US.

“‘Once he [Erdogan] used to call me Hitler every three hours, now it’s every six hours but thank God trade [between Israel and Turkey] is up,’” Netanyahu said in 2020, describing the international relations game between him and Erdogan.