Turkey affirms Iran’s importance to US delegation

Turkish officials on Friday have reaffirmed the importance of Iran for Turkey to a US delegation that held talks in Ankara to discuss Washington sanctions on Tehran.

“Iran is an important neighbour for Turkey, in view of both our bilateral economic and commercial relations as well as our energy imports,” said a Foreign Ministry source, who asked not to be named due to restrictions on speaking to the media.

“Our relevant authorities are carrying out necessary work for Turkey to avoid any negative impact from the upcoming sanctions. In this regard, we are holding consultations with our American counterparts,” said the source.

“Within this framework, we had discussions with a US delegation visiting Turkey on July 20.”

TRT World's Hasan Abdullah has more details from Ankara.

Upon US President Donald Trump’s announcement that the US would withdraw from the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) — the Iran deal’s official name — and that sanctions on Iran would be re-imposed, the sources said, “Following the US decision to withdraw from the JCPOA, the upcoming sanctions on Iran carry importance for Turkey.”

In July 2015, the P5+1 group of countries — the US, UK, France, China, Russia and Germany — signed the JCPOA with Iran.

Under the deal, world powers agreed to lift some economic sanctions on Iran in return for the latter agreeing to limit its nuclear activity to peaceful and civilian purposes.

But on May 8, Trump announced that the US was unilaterally withdrawing.

Here's a look at Turkey-Iran trade relations.