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Turkey May Not Buy Gas from Iran Due to U.S. Pressure
Turkey may not buy Iranian natural gas as planned due to heavily pressures from Washington, reported the Turkish Daily News on Monday.
Turkish government sources hinted that Turkey might have to find another excuse to delay buying gas from Iran, as the July 30 deadline for Turkey to start buying the Iranian gas is round the corner.
Turkey and Iran signed a natural gas agreement in August 1996, under which Turkey would buy 7 billion cubic meters of gas from Tehran every year for 25 years.
Under the pressure from the United States, Turkey had delayed the completion of the pipeline on its territory. However, Iran made a gesture by agreeing to delay the project for a year, provided that gas would be pumped to Turkey as of July 30 this year.
The Turkish Energy Ministry claimed last week that Iran failed to complete its new pumping station, thus preventing Turkey from buying the gas on time. But Iran stated in response that it had got everything ready for the gas sale.
Analysts attributed Turkey's delay of purchasing Iranian gas to the pressure exerted by the U.S..
On August 1, the U.S. is expected to renew the Iranian-Libyan Sanctions Act (ILSA), under which countries or companies are prohibited from making investments in Iran over 25 million to 30 million U.S. dollars.
Although Turkey is not covered in the catagory, as the investments on Iranian soil have been done by Tehran itself, but the U.S. is squeezing Turkey not to purchase gas from neighboring Iran, which Washington continues to cover within its dual containment policy. Both Iran and Libya are still on the American black list of the so-called state sponsored terrorist countries.
At a time when Turkey is badly in need of Washington's help in its effort to overcome the eight-month economic crisis, Turkey appears to have no choice but to comply with U.S. pressure.
Under the Turkish-Iranian gas agreement, Turkey has to pay for the gas that it does not buy even if facilities to pump the gas are not ready at an agreed time.
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