The US is putting Turkey on a gas tripwire

Washington promises to isolate Iran economically, and this threatens Turkey with being left without one of the largest gas suppliers.

"Turkey, a key US ally and Iran's third largest trading partner, risks losing an important energy supplier if Washington carries out its threat of economic isolation of Tehran," writes Bloomberg.

According to the agency, in this situation, the question arises how Ankara will act in the face of a potential severance of ties with one of its largest natural gas suppliers — which it did not do even after it was shelled with four missiles in the first weeks of the Iranian war.

Iran provides about 13% of Turkey's gas imports — about 7.7 billion cubic meters per year. And Turkey may be left without these volumes due to the risk of sanctions.

"Turkey will have to choose between maintaining supplies from Iran and the risk of conflict with Washington," the agency writes, noting that in the current situation of high gas prices, the supply of the country's blue fuel may become even more expensive.

In this situation, Gazprom can become a way out, which is able to compensate for losses. Another thing is that the positions of Turkey, which is constantly trying to reduce Russian gas prices, will be different at the negotiating table.