US foreign policy fail: Iran to bolster 'good ties' with Turkey amid US pressure

Sputnik
Sun, 12 Aug 2018 16:16 UTC

© REUTERS / Yasin Bulbul/Presidential Palace

Relations between Ankara and Washington have plummeted to their lowest point in decades over a range of issues, including the detention of American pastor Andrew Brunson and Turkey's push for buying the Russian S-400 missile defense systems.

Iranian Foreign Ministry Spokesman Bahram Qassemi has lambasted a new round of US sanctions against Turkey, pledging Tehran's full support for Ankara.

"We hope that the Turkish government and people will manage these conditions and pressure imposed from outside Turkey's borders and [...] they will definitely do that because others cannot change the willpower of nations through coercion and threats," Qassemi told the Islamic Republic of Iranian Broadcasting (IRIB) news network.

He expressed hope that Iran and Turkey will continue to develop "good" bilateral relations and that the two countries will try to add to maintaining stability and security in the region.

Qassemi's remarks came a day after Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif tweeted that Washington's "jubilation in inflicting economic hardship" on Turkey was "shameful."

He urged Washington "to rehabilitate its addiction to sanctions and bullying or the entire world will unite - beyond verbal condemnations - to force it to."

Earlier, US President Donald Trump announced that he had authorized the doubling of tariffs on steel and aluminum imports from Turkey, praising "the strong dollar" and drawing attention to the plummeting Turkish lira.

The Turkish Foreign Ministry, in turn, vowed to retaliate against restrictive US measures, stressing that Washington will not obtain any tangible results from slapping sanctions on Turkey. The exchange rate of the Turkish lira plummeted more than 16 percent against the US dollar, reaching an all-time low following Trump's announcement.

In early August, the US introduced sanctions against Turkey's Minister of Justice Abdulhamit Gul and its Interior Minister for their leading roles in the imprisonment of US pastor Andrew Brunson and alleged human rights abuses.

Brunson was imprisoned about two years ago over his alleged collaboration with Islamic cleric Fethullah Gulen, who is accused of orchestrating the 2016 failed military coup in Turkey. The pastor was recently released from a Turkish prison and placed under house arrest.

In separate development in June, Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu warned that Turkey will retaliate in the event Washington decides to impose sanctions in response to Ankara's purchase of Russian S-400 surface-to-air missile systems.

Comment: For decades the U.S. and Russia have been playing a geopolitical game rooted in Mackinder's idea of the heartland of Eurasia. In the West, Brzezinski and Freidman adopt Mackinder's ideas as axiomatic, as do Russians like Dugin and Panarin. Essential to the theory is limiting Russia's influence in the periphery. The West has failed there in regard to China. India is sitting on the fence, Germany is still for all intents and purposes a U.S. vassal (despite some calls for better relations with Russia), but the Levant is turning toward Russia. Iran and Syria are aligned with Russia. Turkey has been moving in that direction. And now Turkey - a NATO member - is not only at risk of going 'full Russia'. It may also become even closer to the U.S.'s biggest 'enemy' in the Middle East: Iran. It looks like Russia is winning the Great Game, at least at this juncture in time.