Ankara vows to ignore Iran sanctions
Turkey and the United States are entering a new stage of strained relations as newly re-elected President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, flush with power, disregards renewed sanctions on Iran.
Tensions between Turkey and the United States show no signs of abating, as a top Turkish official declared that the United States’ demands to stop trading oil with Iran would go unheeded by Ankara.
The country’s Economy Minister Nihat Zeybekci told a press conference June 27, “The decisions taken by the United States on this issue are not binding for us,” adding that Turkey would only fall in line behind a United Nations resolution to the same effect. “We recognize no other [country’s] interests other than our own,” he said. Zeybekci’s comments followed the Donald Trump administration’s announcement yesterday that it will impose sanctions against all importers of Iranian oil by Nov. 4. Iran remains Turkey’s biggest source of crude oil imports, accounting for nearly half of its foreign supply in the first quarter of this year, the state-run Anadolu news agency reported.
