ANKARA, Turkey — The formula Ankara and Tehran crafted to bypass international sanctions on Iran and keep their oil and gas deals going has become a potential source of tension between the two neighbors. A major factor in this is Iranian President Hassan Rouhani’s strategy to mend fences with the West to have the sanctions lifted and re-integrate Iran into the global economy and international community.
The formula was the joint work of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, Rouhani’s predecessor who defied the West and coveted nuclear weapons, and Turkey’s Recep Tayyip Erdogan, then prime minister and now president.