Turkish bank financing Iranian oil says no US pressure to stop
You would think that since President Obama and Turkish Prime Minister Erdogan are such good friends, if the US asked Turkey to stop dealing with Iran in violation of US and EU (but apparently not UN) sanctions, Turkey would pretend it's in the EU and stop dealing with Iran, right? Well, it goes without saying that's not what's happening. Turkey's state-run Halkbank is financing Indian purchases of oil from Iran. The apparent reason they are continuing to do so is that the Obama administration has not asked them to stop. Aslan said the bank obeys international banking rules as well as the United Nations’ sanctions against Iran. Noting that Halkbank already has a branch in Tehran, Aslan said Turkey also makes its transactions in return for the oil and gas purchases from Iran through the lender. “One way or another, we have to make these transactions. We cannot carry the money in trucks to Iran,” Aslan said.Barack Obama is unwilling to ask his friends to boycott Iran. Maybe that's because his real best friend is Mahmoud Ahmadinejad?
He said the bank would consider its position regarding international transactions only if the international community bans any purchase of oil and gas from Turkey’s eastern neighbor. Responding to a question as to whether the bank had been pressured to halt transactions to Iran by the United States, Aslan said there has been no pressure from the U.S. side.
What could go wrong?
Labels: Barack Hussein Obama, Iran sanctions regime, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Turkey
posted by Carl in Jerusalem @ 11:48 PM
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