Barrack says a US strike on Iran this weekend is “absolutely” possible, and calls Greek-Turkish disputes “ridiculous”

“Could there be a strike within the weekend? Absolutely.” That was the answer of Tom Barrack, US ambassador to Turkey and special envoy, when asked about a new American strike on Iran, in an interview with Mario Nawfal published on X on Friday.

“The president has made it clear, I am conveying American policy to you: he is open and available for a deal. And we have been at the table for months and months,” he added. He noted that “everyone almost agrees that the immediate nuclear threat has gone.” Barrack warned: “President Trump does not make idle threats. If the world starts to choke and there is no parallel path, we can be certain he will do what he said.”

“Not regime change, but a change of policy”

The US diplomat made clear that the consequence “will not be regime change.” Trump, he said, has told Tehran: “My door is open. Steve Witkoff’s phone is here. If we do not do it and you keep threatening the world, our allies, the Gulf, there will be consequences.” According to Barrack, the president is interested in “rebalancing, so that there are no hostages and threats.” “The problem with regime change is always what the day-after scenario is,” he noted.

On Israel’s stance towards Iran he said Israel is tactically capable but “strategically it is a collapse.” “We have to put it together, which means not regime change in Iran, but a change in the regime’s policy. And that requires both sides,” he stressed. His words follow a New York Times report that the US and Israel have drawn up plans for new strikes on Iran after the November 3 midterm elections.

Greece and Turkey: “two energy corridors”

In the same interview Barrack also turned to Greek-Turkish relations. “Greece and Turkey have been arguing forever, which is ridiculous. All they have to do is align and say: ‘Fine, we are going to have two energy corridors and we are going to help each other,’” he said. Athens has consistently maintained that the only difference with Turkey that can be referred to international adjudication is the delimitation of the continental shelf and exclusive economic zone under the law of the sea, and that Turkey’s casus belli threat and its revisionist claims, not Greek positions, are what keep the dispute alive.

The American ambassador spoke warmly of Ankara: “Turkey is an amazing country. Again, they accuse me of being pro-Turkish. I am the American ambassador to Turkey.” On the relationship between Turkey and Israel he said that managing the two US allies is like “being between two teenagers who grew up next door and suddenly end up fighting.” A few days earlier, Barrack had said in Doha that Israel is too smart to start a conflict with Turkey.