Abbas Araghchi

Abbas AraghchiREUTERS/Mohamed Azakir/File Photo

Turkey and Iran have agreed to begin construction of a joint railway line to serve as a strategic trade corridor, Iran International reported, quoting Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi.

According to the report, construction will last three to four years, and the 200-kilometer line will run towards Turkey’s Aralik region.

The project is expected to cost approximately $1.6 billion.

Earlier this month, Minister for Diaspora Affairs and Combating Antisemitism Amichai Chikli warned that Turkey now poses “the most serious threat to the State of Israel today,” and that Turkey is “building al-Julani’s Syria as a forward base from which to attack Israel.”

In his interview on Kan Reshet Bet‘s “This Morning” program, Chikli accused Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan of pursuing “a very aggressive and offensive foreign policy,” adding that “they are now building bases in northern Syria.”

According to Chikli, Turkey is “arming al-Julani’s army – the jihad army – and those soldiers are already saying where they are aiming their arrows: toward Jerusalem and elsewhere.” He warned, “Israel must understand that the danger will come from the north – from Turkey and al-Julani’s Syria.”

He added, “We must do everything possible in foreign relations to isolate Turkey. We should strengthen our ties with Cyprus and Greece – we even saw a joint naval exercise this week.”