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Turkish president says U.S. sanctions on Iran 'unbalance' the world

By Nicholas Sakelaris
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan blasted the U.S. sanctions on Iran saying it will unbalance the world. Photo by John Angelillo/UPI
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan blasted the U.S. sanctions on Iran saying it will unbalance the world. Photo by John Angelillo/UPI | License Photo

Nov. 6 (UPI) -- Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Tuesday blasted new U.S. sanctions imposed against Iran this week, saying the move will unbalance the world.

The sanctions took effect Monday and isolate the country's banking system and nearly eliminate oil exports. The goal is to coerce Iran's leaders to negotiate a new nuclear treaty.

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Turkey received a waiver to continue buying Iranian crude oil without consequences, and it will continue importing natural gas from Iran.

"U.S. sanctions on Iran are wrong. For us, they are steps aimed at unbalancing the world; we don't want to live in an imperialist world," Erdogan said.

The sanctions blacklisted 700 Iranian individuals, entities, aircraft and vessels, including 50 banks.

U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said Monday Iran has a choice -- "act like a normal country" or "watch its economy crumble."

"Our objective is to starve the Iranian regime of the revenue it uses to fund violent and destabilizing activities throughout the Middle East and, indeed, throughout the world," Pompeo said. "We will be relentless in exerting pressure on the regime."

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Turkey's foreign minister Mevlut Cavusoglu warned U.S. leaders that isolating Tehran would be "dangerous," and encouraged the two governments to have a meaningful dialogue instead of using sanctions.

Other countries that received a 180-day waiver include China, Greece, India, Italy, Japan, South Korea and Taiwan.

The waivers calmed fears that crude oil prices would skyrocket after the sanctions choked Iran's oil exports. So far, oil prices have been kept in check, with WTI crude oil trading at $63 and Brent crude at $73 in early Tuesday morning trading. They did go up about 1 percent Monday.

The Energy Market Regulatory Authority estimates 20 percent of Turkey's natural gas imports come from Iran.

Erdogan also addressed the U.S. patrols through northeastern Syria that started Monday. Turkey started shelling terrorist positions in the region last week.

"It is impossible that we accept these [patrols]. Furthermore, such a situation would lead to serious negativity along the borders," Erdogan said.

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