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special purpose vehicle (SPV) which Brussels intends to put into operation and develop for European and Iranian parties who want to do business in which their identities will be shielded from the US, Erdogan reportedly said: "Turkey is ready to join the SPV and create a similar bilateral mechanism for trade cooperation with Iran."
Erdogan and Rouhani met on the sidelines of three-party talks on Syria in the Russian Black Sea resort city of Sochi, which Vladimir Putin also attended.
"Multilateral cooperation with Iran on different issues has had positive achievements and Turkey is ready to expand this cooperation to other countries in the region," Erdogan was also cited as saying.
The US is attempting to throttle Iran’s economy with sanctions in order to secure concessions on Tehran’s Middle East policy. But his strategy is opposed by Turkey, France, Germany, the UK, Russia and China among others.
Rouhani was quoted as saying that Tehran hoped that "obstacles" could be removed so that Iran and Turkey would be able to strengthen bilateral cooperation. Cooperation in the private sectors was also "very good", Rouhani added, noting that "deepening banking transactions is a prerequisite to development of these ties".
Iranian Minister of Petroleum Bijan Zanganeh has observed that Turkey is the only country in Europe that has not stopped buying Iranian oil since the reimposition of US sanctions. Greece and Italy have temporary waivers from Washington that would allow them to buy some Iranian crude without fear of sanctions, but they have not used them and have not provided any explanation for why that is the case.
Erdogan’s comments on developing an Iranian-Turkish SPV will not go down well at all with the Trump administration.
They came as Poland and the US jointly hosted an international conference on the Middle East in Warsaw, at which US Vice President Mike Pence remarked that "some" of Washington's "leading European partners" have not been cooperative when it comes to confronting Iran.
"In fact, they have led the effort to create mechanisms to break up our sanctions," Pence said.
Referring to the European SPV, Pence told the gathering: “It is an ill-advised step that will only strengthen Iran, weaken the EU, and create still more distance between Europe and the United States.”
Tehran has described the 60-country meeting in Warsaw as an anti-Iran “circus.”
10 IRAN Country Report March 2019 www.intellinews.com