(CNSNews.com) – Turkey’s government has no plans to stop Turkish companies from selling gasoline to Iran, despite the recent imposition by the United States of sanctions targeting foreign firms supplying petroleum products to Iran.
Monitors of Iran’s energy trade say companies in Turkey, China and Russia are still supplying gasoline to the country, which despite massive crude reserves imports about 40 percent of its gasoline needs because of poor refining infrastructure.
While China and Russia have shown no compunction about trading with controversial regimes, Turkey is a longstanding U.S. ally, a member of NATO and aspires to join the European Union.
President Obama on July 1 signed into law sanctions legislation, which penalizes companies that sell gasoline or other refined petroleum products to Iran or support its domestic refining efforts.
