Israel Matzav

And again: Obama's BFF refuses to abide by Iran sanctions regime

President Obama's Best Friend Forever, Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, is once again refusing to abide by American sanctions against Iran.

“There was no specific demand from the U.S. side,” a Turkish diplomat told the Hürriyet Daily News Sept. 7, when asked about a Sept. 4 to 5 visit to Ankara by U.S. Department of the Treasury’s Undersecretary for Terrorism and Financial Intelligence David S. Cohen. For two days, Cohen met with officials across the Turkish government, as well as representatives of the Turkish financial sector.

...

Cohen informed Turkish officials about his country’s Iran sanctions law and executive orders authorized under this law, the diplomat said. “Even if there had been a specific demand on the table, we would have reiterated our position clearly like we did several times in the past. We are legally bound only by the related U.N. Security Council resolution,” the diplomat said, speaking on condition of anonymity.

Resolution 1747 banned arms exports by Iran under Chapter 7 of the U.N. charter, which allows the Security Council to authorize actions ranging from diplomatic and economic sanctions to military intervention. “We are not legally bound to any unilateral decisions by the United States against Iran,” the diplomat said.

That's true. But there's also nothing that prevents the United States from banning every Turkish bank that clears transactions with Iran from participating in the US Federal Reserve system. Just sayin'....

Obama keeps bragging about how his administration has implemented the toughest sanctions evah against Iran (even though he opposed them), but what he doesn't mention - and he needs to be called on this again and again - is that his administration has also exempted every country that asked from participating in those sanctions. Including Turkey.

Labels: Barack Hussein Obama, Iran sanctions regime, Recep Tayyip Erdogan

posted by Carl in Jerusalem @ 12:42 PM