{"id":114332,"date":"2026-04-20T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2026-04-20T00:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/enterpriseam.com\/menaplus\/?p=114332"},"modified":"2026-04-20T07:07:26","modified_gmt":"2026-04-20T07:07:26","slug":"is-ankara-going-to-play-hardball-with-tehran-on-a-key-gas-import-agreement","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/enterpriseam.com\/menaplus\/2026\/04\/20\/is-ankara-going-to-play-hardball-with-tehran-on-a-key-gas-import-agreement\/","title":{"rendered":"Is Ankara going to play hardball with Tehran on a key gas import agreement?"},"content":{"rendered":"

Turkey\u2019s long-term natural gas supply agreement with Iran is about to expire in July \u2014 <\/strong>and the pair haven\u2019t discussed renewal just yet<\/strong>, Turkish Energy Minister Alparslan Bayraktar said<\/a>. The agreement covered 9.6 bn cubic meters of gas annually, or about 13% of Turkey\u2019s imports last year, though Iranian flows have often failed to live up to the contracted amounts.<\/p>\n

Turkey\u2019s domestic energy needs are covered by a patchwork of agreements. <\/strong>Russian pipeline gas still accounts for c. 35% of its mix, though state importer BOTA\u015e said it was shifting toward short-dated supply agreements last December, when it agreed to a one-year extension of two legacy Gazprom contracts through end-2026. Bayraktar said at the time Ankara would pursue \"one-year deals\" and shorter arrangements going forward.<\/p>\n

BACKGROUND- <\/strong>Ankara is leveraging<\/a> its unique geographic location and advanced gas infrastructure to double down on its role as a re-export hub to serve Europe. Turkey has also been working for more than a year to diversify its natural gas sources away from Russia, its largest supplier over the last two decades, to create its own \u201cTurkish blend\u201d \u2014 an export product created by mixing gas from different countries \u2014 setting it up as Russia\u2019s backdoor into Europe\u2019s gas markets. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Turkey has been pivoting toward shorter-duration contracts as it looks to sell a \u201cTurkish blend\u201d of natural gas into Europe<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":114333,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"newspack_ads_suppress_ads":false,"newspack_popups_has_disabled_popups":false,"newspack_sponsor_sponsorship_scope":"","newspack_sponsor_native_byline_display":"inherit","newspack_sponsor_native_category_display":"inherit","newspack_sponsor_underwriter_style":"inherit","newspack_sponsor_underwriter_placement":"inherit","ep_exclude_from_search":false,"_primary_brand":0,"newspack_featured_image_position":"","newspack_post_subtitle":"","newspack_article_summary_title":"Overview:","newspack_article_summary":"","newspack_hide_updated_date":false,"newspack_show_updated_date":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[2569],"tags":[2568,2539,2538,2590,2688],"brand":[],"newspack_spnsrs_tax":[],"class_list":["post-114332","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-also-on-our-radar","tag-also-on-our-radar","tag-energy","tag-enterpriseam","tag-iran","tag-turkey","wpautop","entry"],"acf":{"mongo_id":"6d08a01f-ada7-4594-ac42-790e181c295d","order":"9","is_powered_by":false,"story_type":"1","photo_url":"https:\/\/ent.news\/2026\/4\/936.jpg","photo_position":"above","homepage_title":"","full_issue_title":"Turkish delight?","related_issue":[114315],"teaser":"Turkey has been pivoting toward shorter-duration contracts as it looks to sell a \u201cTurkish blend\u201d of natural gas into Europe"},"yoast_head":"\nIs Ankara going to play hardball with Tehran on a key gas import agreement? - MENA+ Edition<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/enterpriseam.com\/menaplus\/2026\/04\/20\/is-ankara-going-to-play-hardball-with-tehran-on-a-key-gas-import-agreement\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Is Ankara going to play hardball with Tehran on a key gas import agreement?\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Turkey has been pivoting toward shorter-duration contracts as it looks to sell a \u201cTurkish blend\u201d of natural gas into Europe\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/enterpriseam.com\/menaplus\/2026\/04\/20\/is-ankara-going-to-play-hardball-with-tehran-on-a-key-gas-import-agreement\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"MENA+ Edition\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2026-04-20T00:00:00+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2026-04-20T07:07:26+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/ent.news\/2026\/4\/936.jpg?fit=%2C&ssl=1\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"enterpriseam admin\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"enterpriseam admin\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"1 minute\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/enterpriseam.com\/menaplus\/2026\/04\/20\/is-ankara-going-to-play-hardball-with-tehran-on-a-key-gas-import-agreement\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/enterpriseam.com\/menaplus\/2026\/04\/20\/is-ankara-going-to-play-hardball-with-tehran-on-a-key-gas-import-agreement\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"enterpriseam admin\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/enterpriseam.com\/menaplus\/#\/schema\/person\/ca597032db7e4db868359c123cec256d\"},\"headline\":\"Is Ankara going to play hardball with Tehran on a key gas import agreement?\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-04-20T00:00:00+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2026-04-20T07:07:26+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/enterpriseam.com\/menaplus\/2026\/04\/20\/is-ankara-going-to-play-hardball-with-tehran-on-a-key-gas-import-agreement\/\"},\"wordCount\":219,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/enterpriseam.com\/menaplus\/#organization\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/enterpriseam.com\/menaplus\/2026\/04\/20\/is-ankara-going-to-play-hardball-with-tehran-on-a-key-gas-import-agreement\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/ent.news\/2026\/4\/936.jpg?fit=%2C&ssl=1\",\"keywords\":[\"ALSO ON OUR RADAR\",\"ENERGY\",\"EnterpriseAM\",\"Iran\",\"Turkey\"],\"articleSection\":[\"ALSO ON OUR RADAR\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/enterpriseam.com\/menaplus\/2026\/04\/20\/is-ankara-going-to-play-hardball-with-tehran-on-a-key-gas-import-agreement\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/enterpriseam.com\/menaplus\/2026\/04\/20\/is-ankara-going-to-play-hardball-with-tehran-on-a-key-gas-import-agreement\/\",\"name\":\"Is Ankara going to play hardball with Tehran on a key gas import agreement? - MENA+ Edition\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/enterpriseam.com\/menaplus\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/enterpriseam.com\/menaplus\/2026\/04\/20\/is-ankara-going-to-play-hardball-with-tehran-on-a-key-gas-import-agreement\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/enterpriseam.com\/menaplus\/2026\/04\/20\/is-ankara-going-to-play-hardball-with-tehran-on-a-key-gas-import-agreement\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/ent.news\/2026\/4\/936.jpg?fit=%2C&ssl=1\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-04-20T00:00:00+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2026-04-20T07:07:26+00:00\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/enterpriseam.com\/menaplus\/2026\/04\/20\/is-ankara-going-to-play-hardball-with-tehran-on-a-key-gas-import-agreement\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/enterpriseam.com\/menaplus\/2026\/04\/20\/is-ankara-going-to-play-hardball-with-tehran-on-a-key-gas-import-agreement\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/enterpriseam.com\/menaplus\/2026\/04\/20\/is-ankara-going-to-play-hardball-with-tehran-on-a-key-gas-import-agreement\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/ent.news\/2026\/4\/936.jpg?fit=%2C&ssl=1\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/ent.news\/2026\/4\/936.jpg?fit=%2C&ssl=1\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/enterpriseam.com\/menaplus\/2026\/04\/20\/is-ankara-going-to-play-hardball-with-tehran-on-a-key-gas-import-agreement\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/enterpriseam.com\/menaplus\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Is Ankara going to play hardball with Tehran on a key gas import agreement?\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/enterpriseam.com\/menaplus\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/enterpriseam.com\/menaplus\/\",\"name\":\"MENA+ Edition\",\"description\":\"MENA+ Edition\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/enterpriseam.com\/menaplus\/#organization\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/enterpriseam.com\/menaplus\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/enterpriseam.com\/menaplus\/#organization\",\"name\":\"MENA+ Edition\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/enterpriseam.com\/menaplus\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/enterpriseam.com\/menaplus\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/ent.news\/internal\/42998.svg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/ent.news\/internal\/42998.svg\",\"caption\":\"MENA+ Edition\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/enterpriseam.com\/menaplus\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\"}},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/enterpriseam.com\/menaplus\/#\/schema\/person\/ca597032db7e4db868359c123cec256d\",\"name\":\"enterpriseam admin\",\"sameAs\":[\"http:\/\/enterpriseam.testing.projectsarea.com\"],\"url\":\"https:\/\/enterpriseam.com\/menaplus\/author\/enterpriseam\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO Premium plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Is Ankara going to play hardball with Tehran on a key gas import agreement? - MENA+ Edition","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/enterpriseam.com\/menaplus\/2026\/04\/20\/is-ankara-going-to-play-hardball-with-tehran-on-a-key-gas-import-agreement\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Is Ankara going to play hardball with Tehran on a key gas import agreement?","og_description":"Turkey has been pivoting toward shorter-duration contracts as it looks to sell a \u201cTurkish blend\u201d of natural gas into Europe","og_url":"https:\/\/enterpriseam.com\/menaplus\/2026\/04\/20\/is-ankara-going-to-play-hardball-with-tehran-on-a-key-gas-import-agreement\/","og_site_name":"MENA+ Edition","article_published_time":"2026-04-20T00:00:00+00:00","article_modified_time":"2026-04-20T07:07:26+00:00","og_image":[{"url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/ent.news\/2026\/4\/936.jpg?fit=%2C&ssl=1","type":"","width":"","height":""}],"author":"enterpriseam admin","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"enterpriseam admin","Est. reading time":"1 minute"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/enterpriseam.com\/menaplus\/2026\/04\/20\/is-ankara-going-to-play-hardball-with-tehran-on-a-key-gas-import-agreement\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/enterpriseam.com\/menaplus\/2026\/04\/20\/is-ankara-going-to-play-hardball-with-tehran-on-a-key-gas-import-agreement\/"},"author":{"name":"enterpriseam admin","@id":"https:\/\/enterpriseam.com\/menaplus\/#\/schema\/person\/ca597032db7e4db868359c123cec256d"},"headline":"Is Ankara going to play hardball with Tehran on a key gas import agreement?","datePublished":"2026-04-20T00:00:00+00:00","dateModified":"2026-04-20T07:07:26+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/enterpriseam.com\/menaplus\/2026\/04\/20\/is-ankara-going-to-play-hardball-with-tehran-on-a-key-gas-import-agreement\/"},"wordCount":219,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/enterpriseam.com\/menaplus\/#organization"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/enterpriseam.com\/menaplus\/2026\/04\/20\/is-ankara-going-to-play-hardball-with-tehran-on-a-key-gas-import-agreement\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/ent.news\/2026\/4\/936.jpg?fit=%2C&ssl=1","keywords":["ALSO ON OUR RADAR","ENERGY","EnterpriseAM","Iran","Turkey"],"articleSection":["ALSO ON OUR RADAR"],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/enterpriseam.com\/menaplus\/2026\/04\/20\/is-ankara-going-to-play-hardball-with-tehran-on-a-key-gas-import-agreement\/","url":"https:\/\/enterpriseam.com\/menaplus\/2026\/04\/20\/is-ankara-going-to-play-hardball-with-tehran-on-a-key-gas-import-agreement\/","name":"Is Ankara going to play hardball with Tehran on a key gas import agreement? - MENA+ Edition","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/enterpriseam.com\/menaplus\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/enterpriseam.com\/menaplus\/2026\/04\/20\/is-ankara-going-to-play-hardball-with-tehran-on-a-key-gas-import-agreement\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/enterpriseam.com\/menaplus\/2026\/04\/20\/is-ankara-going-to-play-hardball-with-tehran-on-a-key-gas-import-agreement\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/ent.news\/2026\/4\/936.jpg?fit=%2C&ssl=1","datePublished":"2026-04-20T00:00:00+00:00","dateModified":"2026-04-20T07:07:26+00:00","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/enterpriseam.com\/menaplus\/2026\/04\/20\/is-ankara-going-to-play-hardball-with-tehran-on-a-key-gas-import-agreement\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/enterpriseam.com\/menaplus\/2026\/04\/20\/is-ankara-going-to-play-hardball-with-tehran-on-a-key-gas-import-agreement\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/enterpriseam.com\/menaplus\/2026\/04\/20\/is-ankara-going-to-play-hardball-with-tehran-on-a-key-gas-import-agreement\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/ent.news\/2026\/4\/936.jpg?fit=%2C&ssl=1","contentUrl":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/ent.news\/2026\/4\/936.jpg?fit=%2C&ssl=1"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/enterpriseam.com\/menaplus\/2026\/04\/20\/is-ankara-going-to-play-hardball-with-tehran-on-a-key-gas-import-agreement\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/enterpriseam.com\/menaplus\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Is Ankara going to play hardball with Tehran on a key gas import agreement?"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/enterpriseam.com\/menaplus\/#website","url":"https:\/\/enterpriseam.com\/menaplus\/","name":"MENA+ Edition","description":"MENA+ Edition","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/enterpriseam.com\/menaplus\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/enterpriseam.com\/menaplus\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/enterpriseam.com\/menaplus\/#organization","name":"MENA+ Edition","url":"https:\/\/enterpriseam.com\/menaplus\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/enterpriseam.com\/menaplus\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/ent.news\/internal\/42998.svg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/ent.news\/internal\/42998.svg","caption":"MENA+ Edition"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/enterpriseam.com\/menaplus\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"}},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/enterpriseam.com\/menaplus\/#\/schema\/person\/ca597032db7e4db868359c123cec256d","name":"enterpriseam admin","sameAs":["http:\/\/enterpriseam.testing.projectsarea.com"],"url":"https:\/\/enterpriseam.com\/menaplus\/author\/enterpriseam\/"}]}},"featured_image_src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/ent.news\/2026\/4\/936.jpg?resize=600%2C400&ssl=1","featured_image_src_square":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/ent.news\/2026\/4\/936.jpg?resize=600%2C600&ssl=1","author_info":{"display_name":"enterpriseam admin","author_link":"https:\/\/enterpriseam.com\/menaplus\/author\/enterpriseam\/"},"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/ent.news\/2026\/4\/936.jpg?fit=%2C&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/enterpriseam.com\/menaplus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/114332","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/enterpriseam.com\/menaplus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/enterpriseam.com\/menaplus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/enterpriseam.com\/menaplus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/enterpriseam.com\/menaplus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=114332"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/enterpriseam.com\/menaplus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/114332\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":114363,"href":"https:\/\/enterpriseam.com\/menaplus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/114332\/revisions\/114363"}],"acf:post":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/enterpriseam.com\/menaplus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/issue\/114315"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/enterpriseam.com\/menaplus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/114333"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/enterpriseam.com\/menaplus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=114332"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/enterpriseam.com\/menaplus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=114332"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/enterpriseam.com\/menaplus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=114332"},{"taxonomy":"brand","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/enterpriseam.com\/menaplus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/brand?post=114332"},{"taxonomy":"newspack_spnsrs_tax","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/enterpriseam.com\/menaplus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/newspack_spnsrs_tax?post=114332"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}