Turkey warns US against continuing Iran sanctions

Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu told reporters that Turkey opposes sanctions because they don't achieve results and it will instead punish the people.

"As a principle Turkey is against sanctions and we don't believe that any result can be achieved through sanctions," he said.

"Cornering is not wise, isolating Iran is dangerous and punishing the Iranian people is not fair."

President Donald Trump ordered new sanctions on Iran on Monday, saying they would be the "toughest yet" on the Islamic Republic.

Turkey is a NATO ally of the US but also a key trading partner with its neighbour Iran.

Cavusoglu said the US' "unilateral" measure affects the world, including Turkey, one-third of whose gas imports come from Iran, he said.

"I think instead of sanctions, meaningful dialogue and engagement is much useful and this is our principle," he said.

"We have to find out how it happened, who did it and who gave the instructions, and we also have to find the body of the journalist Khashoggi."

Cavusoglu also urged Saudi Arabia to come clean about the killing of journalist Jamal Khashoggi in the Saudi consulate in Istanbul last month.

He demanded the missing body is handed over to suspected collaborators.

Turkey is determined to get to the bottom of the case and Saudi Arabia hasn't answered the key questions, he said.

"We have to find out how it happened, who did it and who gave the instructions, and we also have to find the body of the journalist Khashoggi."

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan recently wrote an op-ed saying that he believed the highest levels of the Saudi government ordered Khashoggi's killing, but did not King Salman was responsible.

Erdogan knows the king well and is convinced he was not involved in the murder, Cavusoglu said.

He added that other evidence not made public suggested the king was not involved.