Erdogan: Turkey hopes US will make exception for it when issuing new sanctions against Iran

Turkey hopes that the US will make an exception for it when issuing new sanctions against Iran, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said, Trend reports citing Turkish media.

The US should consider that Turkey and Iran are strategic partners, Erdogan said.

"Turkey is a country dependent on energy resources and therefore purchases natural gas and oil from Iran and several other countries," he said.

The trade turnover between Turkey and Iran has fallen sharply this year, Erdogan added noting that the turnover amounted to $30 billion in 2018.

Earlier, US President Donald Trump gave instructions to significantly tighten sanctions against Iran after several facilities of the Saudi Arabian Oil Company (Saudi Aramco) were attacked by drones on Sept. 14, as a result of which the kingdom was forced to cut oil production by more than half.

Though the responsibility for the attack was claimed by the Hussite Yemeni rebels, against whom the Arab coalition led by Saudi Arabia is fighting, Riyadh and Washington blamed Tehran for what happened.

Iran called the accusation a lie. The Iranian Government stressed that attacks on the oil facilities harm the entire region and noted that such allegations are traditional for the US and are not surprising.