“We will continue telling the U.S. that the embargoes [on Iran] are wrong and unrealistic,” he said speaking at a joint news conference with Iranian counterpart Mohammad Javad Zarif.
The Turkish delegation, which included Minister for Treasury and Finance Berat Albayrak, “conveyed” Turkey’s concerns during meetings with American officials in Washington, Cavusoglu said, noting that Albayrak discussed the case directly with U.S. President Donald Trump.
The delegation’s visit to Washington comes at a time when Ankara “expects” the Trump administration to extend it waivers for the purchase of Iranian oil. Ankara was granted a waiver in November for its import of Iranian oil but has made a significant decrease in its oil purchases from Tehran.
Cavusoglu noted that Turkey and Iran seek alternative mechanisms to overcome U.S. sanctions and continue bilateral trade in a bid to reach $30 billion in trade volume as agreed before. In their meeting, they discussed new mechanisms to conduct trade such as INSTEX, a payment channel EU has set up with Iran.
Cavusoglu also said the U.S. decision to designate Iran’s Revolutionary Guard as a terrorist organization is a dangerous development that could lead to chaos.
“This is an extremely wrong decision,” he said, adding that listing foreign national armies as terror groups would lead to “dire” cracks in the international system and international law order.
“Then, trust in the global system will decline, and total chaos will ensue,” he added.
“Our conscience does not accept that the brotherly Iranian people be punished,” he said. “Such steps put regional stability, peace, calm and economic development under risk.”
Trump on April 8 said he would formally designate the force a “terrorist organization”.
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