Iran’s Oil and Energy Information Network has a story (Persian) on two energy deals that Turkish Prime Minister Erdogan concluded on his recent visit to Tehran. Under the headline “Conditions for Transfer of Iranian Gas to Europe have been Met,” the piece quotes Ahmadinejad’s Vice President Mohammadreza Rahimi praising “brotherly” relations with Turkey and the signing of trade initiatives that would eventually total $30B.
Rahimi mentions two specific initiatives, one to cooperate towards developing an additional 6,000 MW of power generation capacity in the two countries. Second is an an agreement for Iran to supply gas to Europe via Turkey (presumably through the planned Nabucco pipeline) and also to act as a transhipment route for Turkmen gas en route to Europe.
Using Iranian gas to fill Nabucco has been discussed before, but this marks a step closer towards making it a reality. The deal, and Erdogan’s high profile visit to Tehran, are no doubt ruffling feathers in DC, but there has been little official reaction to the visit so far. This seems like another example of the “’sleeping with your friends’ enemies” argument that Bryan Early advances here. In sum, friends of a sanctioning state are in fact more likely to flout sanctions and trade restrictions because of security afforded by the alliance with the sanctioning state. Turkey’s alliance with the U.S. by virtue of NATO membership means that the U.S. is likely to be less able to compel it to adopt its Iran-isolating agenda.
-WW
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