Zarif, Cavusoglu Sign Deal to Boost Mutual Cooperation

A document to enhance “strategic” partnership between Tehran and Ankara was signed by the two countries' foreign ministers on Friday. 
Mohammed Javad Zarif and his Turkish counterpart, Mevlut Cavusoglu, signed the agreement at the end of their meeting in the city of Isfahan where they discussed bilateral ties, including the implementation of previous agreements on setting up a joint strategic economic commission. 
The two ministers also reviewed the latest developments in the region and the world, IRNA reported. 
Zarif said the meeting was the first in a series of talks aimed at making plans for the improvement of Tehran-Ankara “strategic” relations.
“Based on an agreement between the two countries’ presidents, foreign ministers have been tasked with pursuing the agenda," he told reporters. 
"[The meeting] was an opportunity to discuss the development of bilateral ties as well as international issues.” 
Cavusoglu said after the meeting that he exchanged views on efforts to increase the volume of bilateral trade using national currencies and issues related to consular affairs and transportation.  
Turkey was among the clients of Iranian oil and one of the eight countries granted a temporary waiver by the United States when it placed a ban on the import of crude from Iran last November.
The ban was part of the sanctions US President Donald Trump restored on Tehran after withdrawing from the 2015 nuclear deal last year. 
When Washington announced it would not reissue the exemptions when they expire in early May, Turkey censured the decisions, with Cavusoglu warning it would harm the Iranian people. 
"Turkey rejects unilateral sanctions and impositions on how to conduct relations with neighbors," he said at the time. 
In a meeting with President Hassan Rouhani in mid-February, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said his country was ready to set up its own trade mechanism with Iran, allowing companies from the two neighboring countries to continue with their legitimate business amid American sanctions.
"Turkey is ready to join the SPV [special purpose vehicle] and create a similar bilateral mechanism for trade with Iran," he said, referring to INSTEX (Instrument In Support of Trade Exchanges), a vehicle set up by the European Union to process non-dollar transactions outside the regular banking institutions.
Rouhani also expressed Iran's willingness and capability to develop relations with Ankara in the energy, industrial and transportation spheres.