Turkey stops importing Iran’s Oil to respect Trump’s decision

Istanbul – Turkey has officially stopped importing Iran’s oil at the beginning of May to respect US President Donald Trump’s decision to impose sanctions on Iran, AFP quoted a Turkish official on Wednesday.

Turkish Foreign Minister Yavuz Selim Kiran said, “as a strategic ally of the US, we respect the sanctions,” at a meeting in Washington DC.

Turkey along with China, India, Japan and four other countries were initially exempted from sanctions and were allowed to import Iranian energy products. However, the exemption terms ended on May 2 and were not renewed.

Apart from Turkey, India has also stopped importing Iranian oil. Indian ambassador Harsh Vardhan Shringla declared on Thursday.

The US had re-imposed its sanctions on Iran in November in view of its nuclear programme. On May 2, it ended the waivers that had allowed the top buyers of Iranian oil to continue their imports for six months.