Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu has criticized the U.S. decision to end sanction waivers for countries importing Iranian oil, saying the move "will not serve regional peace and stability."
In a message posted on Twitter Monday, Çavuşoğlu said: "Turkey rejects unilateral sanctions and impositions on how to conduct relations with neighbors."
The decision means sanctions waivers for five nations, including China and India and U.S. treaty allies Japan, South Korea and Turkey, won't be renewed when they expire on May 2.
Çavuşoğlu added the decision would harm the people of Iran. He tagged the U.S. State Department and U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo on his tweet.
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 reimposed sanctions on Iranian oil exports in November after Washington pulled out of the 2015 Iran Nuclear deal between Tehran, Washington, and 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, U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said SRE waivers would end May 2, a year after Trump unilaterally left the Iran Nuclear Deal.
