ANKARA - Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Tuesday slammed the US sanctions against Iran, calling it "a move to destroy balance in the world."
"US sanctions on Iran are wrong. These steps aim at destroying balance in the world," Erdogan told reporters following a parliamentary group meeting.
"We don't want to live in an imperialist world," he was quoted by Daily Sabah as saying.
Erdogan highlighted that the US sanctions on Iran contradict with the international law and diplomacy.
"Our stance on sanctions has always been clear, we won't abide by such a sanction," said the president.
Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said Monday that isolating Iran is risky and punishing the Iranian people is unfair.
"Dialogue and engagement are much more useful than sanctions," he said at a press conference during a trip to Japan.
Washington announced a second set of sanctions targeting Iran's energy and financial sectors along with its shipping industry.
Eight countries including Turkey have received a US waiver to continue importing Iranian oil.
Iran, Russia discuss Syria, Yemen in Tehran
Iranian and Russian officials held a meeting in Iran's capital Tehran to discuss the latest developments in Syria and Yemen, Tasnim news agency reported on Tuesday.
Iranian foreign minister's special assistant for political affairs Hossein Jaberi Ansari, Russian president's special envoy Alexander Lavrentiev, and Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergey Vershinin participated in the meeting, held on Monday.
Both sides conferred on a host of issues, including the latest developments in the war-hit countries of Syria and Yemen.
During the four-hour session, issues related to the formation of the Syrian Constitution Committee, the situation in Syrian Idlib province and the United Nations' efforts for peace talks in Yemen were discussed.
Iran and Russia are the major regional allies for the Syrian government in its fight with the militants.
The Islamic republic also supports the Shiite rebels in Yemen.
