'U.S. sanctions against Iran oblige Turkey to do nothing'

The U.S. sanctions against Iranian foreign trade have obliged Turkey to do nothing, Economy Minister Zafer Caglayan said, the newspaper The Lira reported on Wednesday.

'We have a lot of trade agreements with Iran, so U.S. sanctions against Iran obliged us to nothing," Caglayan said.

The U.S. Senate will consider new sanctions to reduce global trade with Iran in the energy, shipping and metals sectors. The sanctions may restrict the export and import of precious metals to Iran.

As a result of the sanctions, Iran cannot get money for its gas exports to Turkey in foreign currency. Thus, the country has to pay for it in gold, Turkish Deputy Prime Minister Ali Babacan said earlier.

According to the Statistics Institute of Turkey, gold exports from Turkey to Iran in the second quarter of 2012 totalled $4.8 billion compared to $1 billion in the first quarter.

Turkey imports 8 million tons of oil and eight billion cubic meters of gas from Iran every year.

/Trend/