US President Donald Trump’s recent decision not to extend the sanctions waivers for the purchase of Iranian oil has been met with widespread reaction around the world. One of the main negative responses to the new American move has come from Turkey, Washington’s NATO ally, which has been one of the remaining customers of Iranian oil and natural gas.
Criticizing the Trump administration’s new restrictive measure against Tehran, Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said, “We do not accept unilateral sanctions and impositions on how we build our relationship with our neighbors.” Turkish Minister of Transport and Infrastructure Mehmet Cahit Turhan said following a visit to Tehran on April 29 that the American sanctions cannot alter Turkish-Iranian relations.
Although Washington has decided to pursue its policy of “maximum pressure” on Iran in an all-out way, Ankara and Tehran appear determined to preserve their cooperation. There have been reports suggesting that the two sides are working on mechanisms to avert the negative impacts of the US sanctions and to continue engaging in trade. The frequency of high-level meetings between Iranian and Turkish officials can be considered as another sign of this. Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif visited Ankara on April 17 en route to Syria, and his deputy Abbas Araghchi traveled to the Turkish capital April 30 for “political consultations” with Turkish officials.
As such, Iran sees Turkey as an important partner in this period of increasing US pressure. This comes against the backdrop of Ankara’s own problems with Washington over issues such as Turkey’s determination to by the S-400 missile defense system from Russia and US support for Kurdish groups in Syria. Meanwhile, despite having starkly different viewpoints on the Syrian crisis, Tehran and Ankara are continuing their cooperation on the issue within the framework of the Astana peace process. Thus, an important issue to consider is whether and how the new thaw in relations between the two neighbors could affect their interactions in Syria.
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