Foreign Minister Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu talks at a press conference during a visit in the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus, in the city of Lefkoşa, July 24, 2018. (REUTERS Photo)
Turkey opposes sanctions on Iran and is not obliged to abide by sanctions imposed by the U.S., the U.K. or any other country, Foreign Minister Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu said Tuesday.
President Donald Trump has pulled the United States out of a 2015 nuclear pact with Iran and ordered U.S. sanctions on Tehran, while a senior State Department official said Washington has told allies to cut imports of Iranian oil by November
Turkey has criticized Trump’s move to withdraw from the nuclear pact and has publicly resisted the U.S. call to cut oil imports from Iran.
“We do not have to adhere to the sanctions imposed on a country by another country. We don’t find the sanctions right either,” Çavuşoğlu told a news conference in Azerbaijan.
“We held meetings with the United States in Ankara and told them openly: Turkey gets oil and gas from Azerbaijan, Iran, Russia and Iraq. If I don’t buy from Iran now, where am I supposed to meet that need from?” he said.
Last week U.S. Treasury and State Department officials met Turkish counterparts in Ankara to discuss sanctions on Iran. Ankara said authorities were working to prevent Turkey being hurt by the measures.
Turkey also does not agree with the U.S. sanctions on Russia, the minister also added.
“We do not find those sanctions right. This is a principal stance. It does not depend on any other condition,” he said.
Many Turkish companies are prime trade partners with Tehran.
Iran has faced the threat of U.S. sanctions since Trump decided in May to withdraw the United States from a 2015 agreement between world powers and Iran over its disputed nuclear program.
Turkey’s overall trade with Iran has been decreasing since 2013 following the sanctions. While bilateral trade between the countries exceeded $20 billion in 2012, it saw a dramatic fall to $14 billion. Recorded at $9 billion in 2016, bilateral trade with Iran gained momentum in 2017 and rose to $10.7 billion.
Turkey and Iran have also discussed trading in local currencies as an alternative medium of exchange to dollar and issued the first letter of credit in the form of a national currency swap to exchange Iranian rial and Turkish lira in April.
