Murat Temizer,Muhsin Barış Tiryakioğlu
November 02, 2018•Update: November 03, 2018
By Murat Temizer, Muhsin Baris Tiryakioglu, Nuran Erkul Kaya
ANKARA
Turkey's Energy and Natural Resources Minister Fatih Donmez said late Friday that they have an information that Turkey will be granted waiver from the U.S. oil sanctions against Iran, but they don't have all the details yet.
Mike Pompeo declared that 8 countries including Turkey would be granted waivers from the U.S. oil sanctions against Iran, Donmez told reporters at Turkish parliament.
"I want to express my pleasure for this statement. We always stated that such sanctions could negatively impact peace, stability and economies in neighboring countries like Turkey and we elaborated this reality during the talks with U.S. officials," he said.
He added that they also stressed the importance of gas and oil trade with neighboring countries for Turkey's supply security.
Turkey imports almost nearly half of its oil needs from neighboring Iran. The country also imports oil via pipelines from Iraq and Azerbaijan. However, geographical proximity and stable transport routes facilitate oil trade between Ankara and Tehran.
"Now it is understood that what we said during these talks was accepted at some point. I think that this outcome will contribute to peace and stability in the region. The information we have now is showing that Turkey is included among these 8 countries but we received no further details yet. However, I can say that this decision is pleasing," Donmez said.
In May, Trump unilaterally withdrew his country from the 2015 landmark nuclear deal signed between Iran and the P5+1 group of nations -- the five permanent UN Security Council members U.S., Russia, China, Britain and France plus Germany. He also announced that he would reinstate sanctions against Tehran, which were lifted by the agreement in exchange for tight restrictions on the country's nuclear program.
The U.S. in August had re-imposed the first round of economic sanctions on Iran, which mainly target the country’s banking sector.
The second phase of sanctions, targeting Iran’s energy sector, is set to go into effect on Nov. 5.
