Ankara is unwilling to break up its strategic relationship with Tehran, Turkey's President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said.
"Severing ties with our strategic global partners, who are just like the US to us, goes against our understanding of sovereignty. Iran is both our neighbor and our strategic partner. There are so many developments based on mutual benefit," Yeni Safak cited Erdogan as saying.
The statement came a day after Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu stressed that Ankara will not join the possible new US sanctions against Iran.
"We had a US delegation here and we […] explained to them that we believe that [such moves] are a mistake. We do not have to adhere to the sanctions imposed on a country by another country," Cavusoglu stressed.
In late June, he announced that Turkey does not have to act in compliance with "unilateral" US decisions on Iran, in a sign that Ankara would not halt trade with its immediate neighbor and major oil supplier.
