‘Iran sanctions not binding for Turkey’

TEHRAN,Feb.26(MNA)--Turkey’s Energy Minister Taner Yildiz once again reiterated that his country will not abide by EU and US sanctions on the Islamic Republic. “We are not a member of the European Union. Because of this, decisions made by the EU are not legally binding for Turkey in anyway. Turkey can say the same sentences about the decisions made by the US,” Yildiz said in a news conference on Friday. On New Year’s Eve, the United States imposed new sanctions against Iran aimed at preventing other countries from importing Iranian oil and conducting transactions with its central bank. European Union foreign ministers also approved sanctions against Iran’s oil and financial sectors on January 23, including a ban on Iranian oil imports, a freeze on the assets of the country’s central bank within EU states, and a ban on selling grains, diamonds, gold, and other precious metals to Tehran. Yildiz further blamed Western sanctions against Iran for driving oil prices to their highest levels over the past years.