TEHRAN - Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif on Saturday described U.S. President Donald Trump’s jubilation over economic hardship in Turkey as “shameful”.

“Trump's jubilation in inflicting economic hardship on its NATO ally Turkey is shameful,” Mohammad Javad Zarif said in a message posted on his official Twitter account.

The Turkish lira has long been falling on worries about President Erdogan's influence over monetary policy and worsening relations with the United States.

On Friday, the currency dropped as much as 18 percent at one point, the biggest one-day fall since a 2001 financial crisis in Turkey.

The lira “slides rapidly downward against our very strong Dollar!” Trump said on Twitter. Trump added, “Our relations with Turkey are not good at this time!” 

Foreign Minister Zarif predicted that the world will finally rise up against the U.S. if Washington does not stop the policy of resort to “sanctions” and “bullying”.
 
“The U.S. has to rehabilitate its addiction to sanctions & bullying or entire world will unite—beyond verbal condemnations—to force it to,” Zarif wrote. 

The chief diplomat said Tehran will stand behind neighboring Turkey in the face of sanctions by the United States. “We’ve stood with neighbors before, and will again now.”

Reverberations of the lira fall spread through global financial markets, with European stock markets especially hit as investors took fright over banks’ exposure to Turkey. U.S. stocks were also rattled.

Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan told Turks on Friday to sell their gold and U.S. dollars to support the country’s currency which plunged after Trump escalated a feud with the NATO ally by doubling tariffs on metals imports.

The lira has lost more than 40 percent this year. It hit a record low after Trump announced he had authorized higher tariffs on imports from Turkey, imposing duties of 20 percent on aluminum and 50 percent on steel.

SP/PA

“The U.S. has to rehabilitate its addiction to sanctions & bullying or entire world will unite—beyond verbal condemnations—to force it to,” Zarif tweeted.