Ankara, Sep 30: Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has on Monday vowed to continue its natural gas and crude oil import mechanism from Iran, in defiance of the US sanctions.
Before departing from New York where he attended the 74th session of the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) summit, Erdogan told Turkish journalists: “It is impossible for us to cancel relations with Iran with regards to oil and natural gas. We will continue to buy our natural gas from there.”
Despite this pledge, Erdogan admitted Ankara faced various difficulty in importing oil since the private sector “pulled back because of US threats”, according to NTV broadcaster news reports.
“But on this issue especially and many other issues, we will continue our relations with Iran,” he vowed, adding Turkey still sought to hike its trade volume with Iran.
Saudi Arabia Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman has warned the world of the potential threat of Iran to the global oil supply. The statement comes when the tension has already escalated in the Middle-East following an airstrike on Saudi oil facilities, according to news reports.
Iran had been accused of carrying out the strike on the oil facilities by the Saudis and the United State, which the Islamic Republic denies. The responsibility of the attacks was claimed by the Houthi rebels in Yemen.
The Saudi Arabian and Iranian relationships have been hostile since the Iranian revolution of 1971 which overthrew the monarchy. In recent years, the two countries have been involved in a proxy war in Yemen and Syria.
The airstrikes had damaged the Saudi Aramco owned oil facilities which had seen a major impact on the global oil supply. It was able to knock down the oil production in Saudi Arabia by fifty per cent and five per cent of the global oil supply.