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Erdogan: Turkey to keep on importing oil, gas from Iran

IRNA - Islamic Republic News Agency

Ankara, Dec 4, IRNA -- Turkey’s Prime Minister Recep Teyyip Erdogan said here Monday, “We do not support unilaterally imposed sanctions against Iran and therefore, we would keep on importing oil and gas from Islamic Republic of Iran.”

According to IRNA Ankara Office, Prime Minister Erdogan made the comment in his joint press conference with visiting Russian President Vladimir Putin.

In response to a reporter’s question on US demand for imposing tougher sanctions against Iran and whether Turkey would follow suit regarding its imports of oil and gas from Iran, he said that Iranian gas imports were vitally important for Turkey, which depends heavily on imported energy and is struggling to diversify its suppliers, and that the government had told the relevant parties the trade would continue.

'We have always told officials that the issue is of strategic importance to us and we couldn't comply with the sanctions,' Erdogan told a joint news conference with President Putin.

Turkey will continue to buy natural gas from Iran despite the prospect of tighter US sanctions, Turkish Prime Minister Teyyip Erdogan said, indicating the measures are not likely to have much impact on the countries' gold-for-gas trade.

The US Senate approved tougher sanctions on global trade with Iran's energy and shipping sectors on Friday in US latest effort to further mount economic pressure on Tehran over the Islamic Republic of Iran’s absolutely peaceful nuclear program.

The new sanctions, the third round in a year, include measures aimed at stopping the flow of gold from Turkey to Iran in exchange for natural gas supplies.

'We are at the same point now. We told them we would carry out the necessary swap because it's a strategic product and we will continue in that direction in the future,' he said.

Turkey, which produces most of its electricity from natural gas, buys more than 90 percent of Iran's gas exports, while Turkmenistan imports the remaining around 10 percent, but those portions are subject to drastic change after the completion of the Iran-Pakistan Peace Pipeline.

Turkey is also an importer of Iranian oil, although it has somehow decreased its oil imports as a result of a deal with Washington to be exempted from resulting sanctions.

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Islamic Republic News Agency/IRNA NewsCode: 80440737