Turkey, US officials hold talks on upcoming Iran sanctions

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Turkey, US officials hold talks on upcoming Iran sanctions

2018-07-21 12:18 Last Updated At：12:18

U.S. and Turkish officials met on Friday to discuss impending American sanctions on Iran — an issue that has the potential to cause a new flashpoint in relations between the two NATO allies.

U.S. Assistant Secretary for Terrorist Financing Marshall Billingslea, who met with Turkish treasury and foreign ministry officials, said his talks in Ankara were very "positive" and that there was "no hostility" on either side. He also met with a series of Turkish companies.

Turkey's foreign ministry said for its part, that it was monitoring the sanctions and that authorities were working to ensure that Turkey is not "negatively impacted by the upcoming sanctions."

President Donald Trump announced in May that he would pull the United States out of a 2015 agreement over Iran's nuclear program and would re-impose sanctions on Tehran. His administration threatened countries with sanctions if they don't cut off Iranian oil imports by early November.

Turkey, which imports a more than half of its oil supplies from neighboring Iran, had earlier suggested that it did not intend to cut off trade with Iran, saying it was not obliged to abide by "unilateral" U.S. decisions.

U.S. Treasury officials have reportedly said in Washington that the U.S. may consider providing waivers from the sanctions to some countries which require time to cut oil imports from Iran.

Speaking to a small group of reporters in Ankara, Billingslea would not say, however, if Turkey would be granted exemptions.

"At this point, I'm not in a position to suggest that we are issuing waivers or exemptions," he said.

At the same time, Billingslea said that the U.S. was adamant about enforcing the new sanctions more "actively."

In May, a U.S. court convicted a Turkish banker from state-run Halkbank for his role in helping Iran evade U.S. economic sanctions. The key witness was Iranian-Turkish gold trader Reza Zarrab, who testified how he orchestrated the scheme and paid bribes to top Turkish officials. The bank said it was working closely with the U.S. Treasury Department and hoped not to incur damages, but the case has strained Turkish-American relations.

"This time around, the treasury sanctions will be enforced very, very aggressively and very comprehensibly," Billingslea said. "I think the Turkish government understands our position on that."

"We certainly would be very, very concerned about trying to trade with Iran in gold," Billingslea said, adding that the U.S. was tracking and trying to understand "large purchases of gold in Turkey."

Turkey, in its statement, said Iran was an "important neighbor" for "economic and commercial relations, as well as our energy imports."

According to data from the country's Energy Market Regulator, Turkey imported 3 million tons of crude oil from Iran in the first four months of 2018, making up 55 percent of crude supplies and 27 percent of its total energy imports.

Billingslea said: "Iran may be a neighbor of Turkey but they are not a friend or an ally."

Australia and New Zealand honor their war dead with dawn services on Anzac Day

2024-04-25 18:52 Last Updated At：19:00

MELBOURNE, Australia (AP) — Hundreds of thousands of people gathered across Australia and New Zealand for dawn services and street marches Thursday to commemorate their war dead on Anzac Day.

New Zealand Prime Minister Christopher Luxon attended a dawn service in his country’s largest city, Auckland, while Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese saw the sun rise at a World War II memorial in the wilds of Australia’s nearest neighbor, Papua New Guinea.

April 25 is the date in 1915 when the Australia and New Zealand Army Corps landed on the beaches of Gallipoli, in northwest Turkey, in an ill-fated campaign that was the soldiers’ first combat of World War I.

Albanese trekked to the memorial in the town of Isurava over two days with Papua New Guinea Prime Minister James Marape. Isurava was the site of a major battle where United States and Australian troops fought the Japanese in August 1942.

“Those who enlisted for the Second World War grew up in an Australia scarred by the memory of the first,” Nine Network reported Albanese telling the gathering.

“Anzac Day has never asked us to exalt in the glories of war. Anzac Day asks us to stand against the erosion of time and to hold on to their names,” Albanese added.

Marape called for “peace to prevail in all circumstances."

Albanese has used his trip to underscore enduring security ties between the two countries that deepened in December, when he and Marape signed a wide-ranging security agreement.

The signing was delayed by six months after a security pact between Papua New Guinea and the United States sparked riots in the South Pacific nation over concerns that the country’s sovereignty was being undermined.

Marape said in December that his government’s security agreements with the U.S. and Australia did not mean he was siding with those allies in their strategic competition with China.

Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi visited Papua New Guinea over the weekend to discuss with Marape building closer relations.

In New Zealand, Luxon told the crowd that the country had its military personnel to thank for their freedom and democracy.

“It’s a sacred day for all New Zealanders. It’s a chance for us all to stop, to reflect, to remember, to commemorate great Kiwi service men and women in the past and present who have gone to stand up for our values,” the Stuff news website reported Luxon saying.

A late morning commemorative service planned for the New Zealand capital of Wellington was canceled due to strong winds.

The government said the decision to cancel the event planned at Pukeahu National War Memorial Park was made for the health and safety of veterans, visitors and guests, The New Zealand Herald reported. A smaller event was held indoors.

Australian police assured the public Thursday that there was no extremist threat to Anzac Day services and marches in Sydney, after seven teenagers accused of following a violent extremist ideology were arrested in police raids across southwest Sydney on Wednesday.

Extremists have plotted mass-casualty attacks on past Anzac Days, but police have intervened before plans were executed.

Sydney residents turned out in large numbers for Thursday's events.

Later, Australian Deputy Prime Minister Richard Marles and New Zealand counterpart Winston Peters represented their governments at a dawn service at Gallipoli's Anzac Cove in Turkey, where hundreds had camped overnight.

“From the distant Pacific Ocean we arrive with humility. Upon your land, our footprints are joined forever. The fallen warriors of our people and your people rest together within your ancestral soil,” Peters told the gathering.

"We meet here to commemorate the ground around us as the final resting place of far too many of our young men: Turkish, British, Australian and New Zealand men," Peters said.

Roger Kerr, from New Zealand, told the state-run news agency Anadolu that there was a bond with Turkey. “Even though they fought each other, both sides were respectful. I think this continues 100 years later,” he said.

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Associated Press writer Andrew Wilks in Istanbul contributed to this report.