Iran accuses Washington of bullying even US allies

Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif accused the United States on Wednesday of bullying even its own allies, as he arrived in Turkey which is locked in a row with Washington.

The United States has doubled tariffs on Turkish steel and aluminium imports over the detention of an American Christian pastor, with Ankara responding with its own retaliatory measures even though both countries are NATO allies.

"The Americans have shown they have no limit or boundary in imposing pressure and using force on others, even on their own allies," Zarif said in Ankara.

"Turkey and some US allies in Europe have come to the conclusion that the United States is not a trustworthy partner," Zarif was quoted as saying by the Iranian state news agency IRNA.

Washington is imposing waves of much severer sanctions on Iran following its withdrawal from a 2015 international deal curbing Tehran's nuclear programme.Zarif is in Turkey to meet Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan, who is due to visit Iran on September 7.