Erdogan declares support for Iran, defies US sanctions

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said on Thursday that Turkey did not approve of US sanctions on Iran, as they would lead to destabilization in the region, Turkish state-run Anadolu news agency reported.

"The US decision on the sanctions against Iran puts regional safety and stability in danger," Erdogan said. "I want to stress once more that we, Turkey, do not support these decisions."

"We will continue to be in solidarity with brotherly Iran at a time when pressures on Iran mounts which we find unjust,” Erdogan said at a news conference with his Iranian counterpart Hassan Rouhani in the Turkish capital Ankara, according to Ahvalnews.

Erdogan said Ankara was ready to take any measures to decrease the negative impacts of the sanctions on economic relations between Turkey and Iran. The Iranian president called US sanctions a 100 percent terrorist act.

Turkey is among eight countries to which the United States granted a six-month exemption for trading with Iran when a new round of sanctions on Iranian financial activities and oil and gas sales went into force on Nov. 5.

Turkey will not abide by the United States' sanctions on Iran, President Tayyip Erdogan has said a day after Washington reimposed sanctions, abandoning a 2015 deal, describing Washington's move as aimed at unbalancing the world.