The Indonesian Ministry of Foreign Affairs announced on social media: “Indonesia calls on all parties to exercise restraint and to prioritise dialogue and diplomacy. If agreed by both parties, the President of Indonesia is prepared to travel to Tehran to carry out mediation,” it said.

But President Prabowo’s offer to help mediate between the sides has provoked debate across Indonesia, coming at a time of increased criticism of his approach to foreign policy and his warm ties with the Trump administration.

“I’m puzzled as to why this idea wasn’t vetted before being made public,” Dino Patti Djalal, Indonesia’s former deputy foreign minister and former ambassador to the US, said in a statement on Instagram. “It is highly unrealistic,” Djalal added.

Others agreed, saying the offer could further alienate Indonesians already wary of the president’s perceived cordial relationship with US President Donald Trump.

“It is clear that any negotiations between Iran and the US have completely ended, so proposing this suggests a failure to read the room,” Ian Wilson, a lecturer in politics and security studies at Murdoch University in Perth, Australia, told Al Jazeera.

“Domestically, people are likely to interpret this as further alignment with Trump and, therefore, Netanyahu,” Wilson said.

In recent months, Prabowo has faced domestic scrutiny after volunteering to deploy 8,000 Indonesian troops to Gaza as part of an International Stabilisation Force under the umbrella of Trump’s Board of Peace  — a so-called “international peacekeeping” organisation of which Israel is also a member. (Aljazeera)