“Severing ties with our strategic global partners, who are just like the U.S. to us, goes against our understanding of sovereignty. Iran is both our neighbor and our strategic partner. There are so many developments based on mutual benefit,” Erdo?an said to members of the press in Ankara before boarding the presidential plane to South Africa.
Washington has told its allies to cut imports of Iranian oil by November, a senior State Department official said. Trump in May said that his administration was withdrawing from the “defective” 2015 nuclear deal agreed by Iran and six world powers.
Erdo?an will attend the summit to be held between Wednesday and Friday. His attendance at the summit will serve as the first high-level contact between Turkey and the BRICS bloc.
On the sidelines of the summit, the Turkish president is expected to hold bilateral meetings with the leaders of all BRICS member states and other invited leaders.
A meeting between Russian President Vladimir Putin and Erdo?an is scheduled on Thursday on the sidelines of the summit, according to Russian presidential aide Yury Ushakov.
