Iran suspends supplying natural gas to Turkey, state-run radio says

"Unfortunately, we stopped supplying gas to Turkey while having a contract with them to meet domestic demand that was rising due to the cold weather," state-run radio quoted Iran's oil minister, Kazem Vaziri Hamaneh, as saying.

Hamaneh did not give a timeline for when Iran - a major supplier of natural gas to Turkey along with Russia - would start resupplying Turkey with natural gas. But the oil minister encouraged Iranians to take measures to reduce their consumption of natural gas, the radio said.

Earlier this year, Hamaneh promised not to reduce gas supplies to Turkey after Tehran reduced the flow of natural gas last year during a cold snap. Iran has said that decrease was because of a technical malfunction related to the cold weather.

Turkey has been importing natural gas from Iran through a 2,580-kilometer (1,600-mile) pipeline since 2001. Turkey's state pipeline company, Botas, has said Turkey imports 20-22 million cubic meters of natural gas per day from Iran. The Associated Press

/The International Herald Tribune/