Vatan newspaper columnist Gungor Mengi argued in a March 2006 piece that a military operation against Iran could trigger severe worldwide consequences, including an immediate halt to Iranian oil exports and attacks on energy infrastructure in neighboring countries.
Mengi noted that Iran supplies roughly 10 percent of global oil and holds vast natural gas reserves, giving its claims of a purely civilian nuclear program little credibility. He wrote that Türkiye's National Security Council had also concluded that Iran seeks nuclear capability to support an expansionist security doctrine.
The columnist cited US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, who called Iran "the biggest and most pressing global problem" and accused Tehran of bankrolling terrorism, as a sign of deepening tensions.
Beyond an oil cutoff, Mengi outlined additional Iranian retaliatory options: stirring Iraq's Shia majority against American forces and expanding financial and ideological backing for terrorist groups. He acknowledged that Washington was weighing these risks, but added that US credibility in such calculations had been damaged by its troubled intervention in Iraq.
Historical summary. TurkishPress restated this wire report, first published in March 2006, in its own words.