The joint declaration of the ministers of foreign affairs of Turkey, Iran and Brazil signed on Monday came as a surprise to the international community. But the United States’ reaction to the uranium swap agreement, and the Turkish interpretation of this reaction, once more highlighted the gap between the U.S. and Turkey in their approaches to what is one of the most important issues on the transatlantic agenda.
Turkey agrees with its transatlantic allies that Iran should be dissuaded from building nuclear military capacity. On the other hand, there is a gap between Turkey and its Western partners on the utility of sanctions toward this end. Turkish decision makers oppose sanctions because in addition to hurting Iran they would harm the Turkish economy. They also think that supporting sanctions against Iran, a neighboring country, would be contrary to Turkey’s “zero problems with neighbors” policy. Last but not the least, Turkish society hasn’t been prepared for sanctions and public opinion opposes them.
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