After the talks between Iran's deputy energy minister and the Turkish manager of Gas and Oil Pipelines, Turkey announced it would resume the import of gas from Iran by October 1. Turkey stopped importing Iranian gas on June 24, claiming that the gas was of low quality.

In response, Iranian Oil Minister Bijan Zanganeh rejected the claim and announced that Iran was open to international experts to examine the quality of Iranian gas. He also said that Iran would file a complaint against Turkey if it did not comply with the articles of the agreement, demanding indemnity.

Before Iran took any action, Turkish officials announced that they would resume the import of gas from Iran after an unnecessary delay of three months.

The Turkish decision would reduce Iran-Turkey economic differences to a certain extent, but as a matter of fact the Turkish officials' measure has virtually eroded Iran's confidence in them and, as a result, from now on the Iranian private and public sectors would think twice before deciding to invest in Turkey.

Iran and Turkey have age-old economic ties. Hence no short-term opportunism should be allowed to mar these relations. At the same time, given the economic instability in Turkey and the economic stability in Iran, as well as the Turkish people's dire need for energy, any hesitation in the import of gas from Iran would be to the detriment of Ankara. It is therefore necessary that Turkish officials refrain from similar measures in the future.

Indeed such measures not only would damage bilateral ties but would undermine regional cooperation as well. One of the negative consequences of such a measure would be the weakening of regional cooperation within the framework of ECO. Once one of the founding members of ECO treats another one in the way Turkey did, how will the junior members act? Many Iranian officials hope that this will be Turkey's last unprincipled measure. Otherwise, Turkey will have to pay for its mistakes.