Turkish FM says dangerous to isolate Iran

Turkey's foreign minister criticised on Tuesday the United States' renewal of sanctions on Iran's oil and shipping industries, saying it was dangerous to isolate Iran and unfair to punish its people, Anadolu news agency reported.

Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu's comments to reporters in Japan came a day after the United States reimposed sanctions, abandoning a 2015 Iran nuclear deal, while temporarily allowing top customers including Turkey to keep buying crude from the Islamic Republic.

Saudi Arabia bears responsibility to find out what happened to the body of Jamal Khashoggi, Çavuşoğlu said, reiterating Ankara's stance that it was not King Salman who ordered the killing.

Turkey has further information which it will share when Ankara knows for sure that the investigation has been completed, he added.

He also said it was not possible for a 15-man team to come to Turkey to kill a Saudi citizen without orders.

Turkey has said that a 15-man security team flew in hours before the killing and carried it out. All these individuals, and three others, were arrested in Saudi Arabia.

Khashoggi, a Washington Post columnist and critic of Saudi Arabia's Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, was killed inside the Consulate of Saudi Arabia in Istanbul after he went there to obtain documents for his forthcoming marriage.

The Saudi government initially insisted Khashoggi had left the consulate, later saying he died in an unplanned "rogue operation". On Oct. 25, the kingdom's public prosecutor Saud Al Mojeb said the attack was premeditated.

Istanbul chief prosecutor Irfan Fidan said last week that Khashoggi was suffocated as soon as he entered the consulate, and his body then cut up and disposed of. Turkey has demanded cooperation from Saudi officials.