When US President Donald Trump ordered strikes on Iran in late February, Turkish officials found themselves sidelined.
Their repeated attempts to prevent the war proved unsuccessful, and the mood in Ankara was that Trump preferred the counsel of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu over that of Turkish leaders.
Three months later, however, Trump once again counted Turkey, alongside Pakistan and Qatar, among the countries that had significantly helped secure a memorandum of understanding with Iran. He also adopted an increasingly combative tone towards Israel.
On Sunday, Tehran and Washington reached an agreement that would extend a fragile ceasefire between the two sides for 60 days and reopen the Strait of Hormuz, which Iran blocked when the US and Israel launched the war.
Turkish officials, speaking to Middle East Eye this week, cautioned that the memorandum of understanding was only a first step toward resolving the US-Iran dispute and would do little more than ease pressure on the Strait of Hormuz.
