Iran FM slams US sanctions on Turkish gov’t ministers

By Ahmed Dursun

ANKARA

Iranian Foreign Minister Javad Zarif has condemned a U.S. decision to impose sanctions on two Turkish government ministers in retaliation for the ongoing detention of an American pastor facing terrorism charges in Turkey.

“These unlawful U.S. sanctions on two Turkish government ministers -- from an allied country -- illustrate the U.S. administration's longstanding policy of pressure and extortion,” Zarif tweeted on Thursday.

The foreign minister stressed that the U.S. has become an “unreliable country” even for its NATO allies after it imposed sanctions on Turkey.

“We are now at a point when even allies of the U.S. would not trust it,” said Zarif who arrived in Singapore to attend the ASEAN foreign ministerial summit.

“Yesterday, the U.S. imposed sanctions on the ministers of a NATO member state which was an interfere in the country’s internal affairs,” the Iranian foreign minister told IRNA news agency.

On Wednesday night, White House spokeswoman Sarah Sanders announced that the U.S. has imposed sanctions on Turkish Interior Minister Suleyman Soylu and Justice Minister Abdulhamit Gul for not releasing American Pastor Andrew Craig Brunson, who faces terrorism charges in Turkey.

Brunson has been accused by the Turkish authorities of spying for the PKK (which has been designated as a terrorist group by both the U.S. and Turkey) and U.S.-based Fetullah Gulen and the latter’s Fetullah Terrorist Organization (FETO), which orchestrated Turkey’s failed July 2016 coup attempt that left 251 martyrs in its wake.

Ankara also accuses FETO of carrying out a long-running campaign to overthrow the Turkish state through the infiltration of state institutions.