On Jan. 29, Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan met with Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and President Hassan Rouhani.

The US administration rushed David Cohen, undersecretary for terrorism and financial intelligence, to Ankara Jan. 27 before Erdogan's departure to remind Turkey that Iran is still under sanctions and that now is no time to muddy the waters at this critical point in the negotiations. The UN Security Council's five permanent members plus Germany (P5+1) had reached an agreement in November 2013 with Iran over its nuclear program, and that deal was to be implemented starting Jan. 20. After his talks in Ankara with senior Foreign Ministry officials, Cohen told reporters, “Businesses interested in engaging in Iran really should hold off. The day may come when Iran is open for business, but the day is not today.”

As Semih Idiz reported for Al-Monitor Jan. 28, “Washington has been unhappy with Turkey’s economic and trade ties with Tehran and the way Ankara has been circumventing US sanctions to pay for oil purchased from Iran by other means, including gold shipments through state banks. The United States has blacklisted some Turkish companies because of their dealings with Iran.”

In fact, the corruption and bribery investigation that has put the Erdogan government on the defensive is also allegedly linked to Iran. According to the findings of the investigation that has been reported so far, Reza Zarrab, an Azeri-Iranian married to famous Turkish singer Ebru Gundes, has built a web of contacts in the Turkish government for the benefit of the Iranian government, and he has allegedly been used by the Iranian government to violate the sanctions imposed on the country by transferring oil payments in gold. The Justice and Development Party (AKP) insiders talking to Al-Monitor not only deny such accusations but also claim that this is the reason they perceive the United States as being behind the exposure of such a network.