Erdogan urges control of growing tension in Middle East

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said on Sunday that the mounting tension in the Middle East should be controlled before it reaches a point where all parties will be harmed.

In a televised interview with the CNNTurk broadcaster, Erdogan noted that Ankara has been making "a great effort" to reduce the tension between the United States and Iran, calling on both sides to keep cool.

The rivalry is growing fiercer between the U.S. and Iran after Tehran vowed revenge for the killing of Major General Qassem Soleimani, former commander of the Quds Force of Iran's Islamic Revolution Guards Corps, in a U.S. drone strike on Friday at Iraq's Baghdad airport.

For his part, U.S. President Donald Trump has threatened to hit 52 Iranian sites in response to Iran's attacks on any American national or U.S. assets.

"This issue will not end here, it will surely have a subsequent process," Erdogan said in the interview, adding the killing of a top commander of the country would not leave Iran unresponsive.

The Turkish leader said he would discuss the issue in detail with his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin during his visit to Istanbul on Jan. 8.

In its latest move, Iran announced on Sunday that it is taking the final step to end its commitments to the landmark nuclear deal inked with the U.S. and other world powers in 2015, from which the Trump administration withdrew in May 2018.