UPDATE 2 - Turkey slams US move to end waivers on Iran oil imports

UPDATES WITH FURTHER REMARKS BY CAVUSOGLU

By Ali Murat Alhas

ANKARA (AA) - Turkey’s foreign minister on Monday warned that Washington ending sanctions waivers on Iranian oil sales would do harm to regional peace.

"The U.S. decision to end sanctions waivers on Iran oil imports will not serve regional peace and stability, yet will harm Iranian people," Mevlut Cavusoglu said on Twitter.

"Turkey rejects unilateral sanctions and impositions on how to conduct relations with neighbors," Cavusoglu added.

Later, commenting on U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo suggesting Saudi Arabia and the UAE as alternatives to Iranian oil, Cavusoglu said:

"Pushing buying oil from other countries besides Iran goes too far."

Following a joint news conference with his Tajik counterpart Sirojiddin Aslov in the Turkish capital Ankara, he said as the U.S. has close ties with those countries, it is ethically "wrong" to suggest them as alternatives.

"This violates the regulations of the World Trade Organization (WTO) and poses a risk to stability in the region," he added.

Earlier, the U.S. announced that it would end sanctions waivers on eight countries -- Turkey, China, Greece, India, Italy, Japan, South Korea and Taiwan -- importing oil from Iran.

U.S. President Donald Trump’s administration re-imposed sanctions on Iranian oil exports in November after Washington pulled out of the 2015 Iran nuclear deal including five other countries.

The administration then announced it would give 180-day waivers, called Significant Reduction Exceptions (SREs), to eight countries to help them wean off their supply of Iranian oil.

On Monday, Pompeo said the SRE waivers would end on May 2, a year after Trump unilaterally left the nuclear deal.