The head of Türkiye's National Intelligence Organization

 

The head of Türkiye's National Intelligence Organization warned Saturday that the ongoing war involving Israel, the US, and Iran risks escalating into a wider global crisis if it continues, Anadolu reports.

Speaking at the Stratcom Summit 2026 in Istanbul, 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 war that began on Oct. 7, 2023 between Israel and Palestinian resistance group Hamas continue to be felt.

"While efforts to realize 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 Feb. 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 toward becoming a global crisis," as the Turkish president has warned, he said. It risks becoming a "war for which 8 billion people will pay the price.”

"Our entire effort is first and foremost for this war to end as soon as possible," he said.

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.