"Sanctions? What Sanctions?" - Turkey's crude imports from Iran leaps in March to 1.17 million tons, rejecting the speculations that Ankara has bowed to US pressures.

"Sanctions? What Sanctions?" - Turkey's crude imports from Iran leaps in March to 1.17 million tons, rejecting the speculations that Ankara has bowed to US pressures.(Fars).TEHRAN (FNA)- Mayor of Turkey's Northwestern city of Istanbul Kadir Topbas praised the activities of Iranian Consul-General in Istanbul Mahmoud Heidari, and called for the expansion of bilateral ties between the two friendly countries in all arenas.

Iran and Turkey have in recent years increased their cooperation in all the various fields of economy, security, trade, education, energy and culture.

Turkey's crude imports from Iran leapt in March to 1.17 million tons, rejecting the speculations that Ankara has bowed to US pressures to curb oil trades with Tehran.

The data was announced by Turkey's census institute. The center reported that the country's oil imports from Iran have hit a record in the 8 months before March.

This is while the Turkish government had earlier promised the US that it would implement a maximum 20% decrease in oil imports from Iran to cooperate with Washington in imposing unilateral sanctions against Tehran.

Meantime, Turkey's Energy Minister Taner Yildiz had earlier said that Ankara is resolved to continue oil imports from Iran despite the sanctions imposed on Iranian oil by the US and the European Union.

The Turkish minister said in February that his country is only committed to the decisions made by the United Nations in this regard.

Turkish President Abdullah Gul in a meeting with Iranian Parliament Speaker Ali Larijani in February underlined the need for the removal of obstacles to the further expansion of bilateral economic ties with Iran in a bid to boost trade cooperation between the two countries.

"The level of economic and trade cooperation between the two countries does not suit the age-old ties of the two nations and we should remove the obstacles to the development of mutual cooperation between Iran and Turkey," Gul said at the time.Hmmmmm.......Obama's BFF Erdogan.Israel must be wondering: who needs enemies with such friends?Read the full story here.

Related: As expected Obama will give BFF Turkey a waiver from sanctions, they 'only' import 45 percent of their oil from Iran and aid Iran avoiding sanctions.

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