Turkey on Friday said the lifting of Western sanctions on countries including Iran and Venezuela would alleviate the global energy crisis triggered by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
Venezuela has been hit by US oil sanctions since 2019 and Iran is under US sanctions as talks between Tehran and Washington over reviving a 2015 nuclear deal stall.
Iran has the world’s second largest natural gas reserves, after Russia, but lacks the infrastructure to increase exports, which are currently limited to Iraq and Turkey.
“The entire world needs Venezuela’s oil and natural gas… On the other side, there’s been embargoes on the Iranian oil,” Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said.
“Remove these sanctions… if you want the prices to drop, remove the embargoes on the countries that will offer their products to the market,” he added.
“You cannot solve the problem by threatening a country.”
Moscow’s move to cut off gas supplies to Europe amid tensions over Ukraine has triggered an energy crisis across the continent, with consumers and businesses facing high prices as winter approaches.
Turkey, which has pursued a balancing act with good ties with Russia and Ukraine, has shied away from Western sanctions on Moscow and instead has bolstered trade ties with its Black Sea neighbour.
