Rania Abu Shamala and Ahmet Gencturk
15 June 2025•Update: 16 June 2025
ISTANBUL
Iran denied on Sunday reports about sending a message to Israel through the Greek Cypriot Administration.
“The Islamic Republic of Iran has not sent any message to Israel through any country, and such claims are utterly false,” Foreign Ministry spokesman Esmail Baghaei said in statements carried by Tehran Times daily.
The president of the Greek Cypriot Administration, Nikos Christodoulides, said early Sunday that he was asked by Tehran to convey a message to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and that he planned to deliver the message during a phone call with the premier on Sunday evening.
“Our goal is to end this situation, which does not lead to any result, and does not lead to the resolution of any differences,” Christodoulides told the Cyprus Mail.
“We will talk to everyone and to the best of our ability… to create the conditions so that this difficult state of affairs can be ended,” he added.
Tension escalated between Israel and Iran after Tel Aviv launched coordinated airstrikes on multiple sites across Iran, including military and nuclear facilities, on Friday, prompting Tehran to launch retaliatory strikes within hours.
Israeli authorities said that at least 13 people were killed and more than 370 others injured in Iranian missile attacks since Friday.
Iran, for its part, said that 78 people were killed on the first day of the Israeli assault, and scores, including children, were killed on the second.
