The Iranian Foreign Ministry has issued a statement opposing Turkey’s incursion into northeastern Syria: “Iran’s Foreign Ministry expresses concern over Turkey’s military action inside Syria’s territory, and with serious consideration for the humanitarian situation and respective dangers for civilians in the region under conflict, it calls for an immediate suspension of attacks and withdrawal of Turkish forces from Syria.”

The statement continued, "Just as Iran understands the security concerns of Turkey, it not only believes that military action will not solve security concerns, but that it will bring widespread humanitarian and material damages. Iran opposes these actions.” The statement said Iran is in contact with both Syria and Turkey and stressed a “peaceful resolution that respects Syria’s territorial integrity.”

Iran’s criticism of Turkey’s decision to send forces into Syria has been relatively mild in comparison to their reaction to US and Western military actions inside Syria. Iranian military officials have not addressed the incursion, though they typically would if Iran was aggressively opposed. For instance, Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps Cmdr. Hossein Salami spoke Oct. 10 during a visit to the northwestern regional city of Ardabil, Iran, but he only discussed the “weakening choices of US options” with respect to Iran and did not mention Turkey.

Most of the opposition to Turkey’s actions have been registered by Iranian President Hassan Rouhani or the Foreign Ministry. Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif expressed Iran’s opposition to the incursion to his Turkish counterpart, Mevlut Cavusoglu. Also, parliament speaker Ali Larijani suspended his trip to the Turkish parliament as a result of the incursion.