“Turkey has played a constructive role in sending the international community’s message to Iran that it needs to live up to its international obligations,” Acting Deputy State Department Spokesman Mark Toner said in a daily press briefing on Thursday when asked about US Treasury Undersecretary Stuart Levey’s recent visit to Ankara.
Toner said he did not have anything to add about Levey’s trip and is not aware of whether Turkey has declined to pursue economic sanctions on Iran. However, as a UN member, obviously, he said, Turkey would have to uphold United Nations Security Council Resolution 1929 on Iran sanctions.
The Security Council adopted the harshest round of economic sanctions against Iran to spur the Islamic Republic to stop its suspected nuclear program on June 12 of this year. Shortly after the Security Council vote, the US and several European Union member states also embraced individual sanctions against Iran.
Although there have been allegations that it has not been complying with economic sanctions, Turkey said it is fully bound to the UN Security Council resolution, but it does not have to pursue bilateral sanctions against Iran.
