Turkey’s accelerating move to replace Russian and Iranian pipeline gas with domestic production and US liquefied natural gas (LNG) could shrink Tehran’s last major European export market, Reuters reported on Wednesday.
According to the analysis, written by Can Sezer, Ankara could meet more than half of its gas demand by 2028 through expanded production and LNG imports, sharply reducing the need for pipeline supplies from Iran and Russia.
US President Donald Trump has urged NATO ally Turkey to scale back energy ties with both countries, and the shift aligns with Washington’s push to isolate Moscow and Tehran from global energy markets.
Iran currently supplies Turkey with around 10 billion cubic meters (bcm) of gas annually under a contract due to expire in mid-2026.
The analysis said Ankara is unlikely to renew it under the same terms as it seeks greater flexibility and diversification.
The move comes as Turkey’s energy ministry boosts domestic gas output and signs multibillion-dollar deals to import LNG from the United States and Algeria.
Reuters calculations suggest Turkey’s domestic production and contracted LNG imports will exceed 26 bcm a year by 2028 -- compared with 15 bcm in 2025 -- enough to cover more than half of its estimated 53 bcm annual gas demand.
The remaining import gap of 26 bcm would be far below the 41 bcm currently contracted from Russia, Iran, and Azerbaijan combined.
Iran, already facing renewed UN and Western sanctions over its nuclear program and military activities, could see one of its most reliable export markets eroded as Turkey repositions itself as a regional gas hub, according to Sezer.
Ankara has also expanded its re-export capacity, recently signing supply deals with Hungary and Romania through its state-owned energy company BOTAS.
While Turkey has maintained that it will continue sourcing gas from all available suppliers, including Iran and Russia, its long-term strategy increasingly favors flexible LNG purchases over fixed pipeline contracts.
“The wound is very open,” he told Iran International.
“Forty-eight people are still in Gaza, nine from my community. Every time we mark this date, it feels like a funeral all over again.”
Daniel’s grandparents, Oded and Yocheved Lifshitz, were abducted from Kibbutz Nir Oz, a community near the Gaza border that lost more than a quarter of its residents that day, killed and captured.
They were lifelong peace activists who ferried Gazan patients to Israeli hospitals and spent decades advocating coexistence.
Yocheved, then 85, was released after 16 days — frail and traumatized. Oded, 83, was shot and dragged unconscious into Gaza, where he later died in captivity.
“He was a journalist, the first (Israeli) to interview Yasser Arafat,” Daniel said. “He warned everyone about Hamas.”
During captivity, Yocheved came face-to-face with Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar, who assured her in Hebrew she would soon be freed.
“She was only released because she was hours from dying,” Daniel said. Even now, he added, “she wakes every morning saying she still feels like she’s in a tunnel.”
Daniel was in Paris when the attack began; his mother and daughter had left the kibbutz just hours earlier. His best friend, Dolev Yahud, was murdered, while Dolev’s sister, Arbel, spent 482 days in captivity before her release.
Although Daniel blames Iran’s longtime backing of Hamas for making the massacre possible, his message this year is clear: no more war.
Earlier this year, Daniel spoke at a two-state solution conference in Paris, where he called for renewed education and engagement between Israelis and Palestinians. “Everything begins with education,” he said.
“We don’t want any war between Israel and Iran,” Daniel said. “Change in Iran must come from the Iranian people.”
But Daniel also directed anger toward Israel’s own leadership, saying years of complacency and misjudgment left the country vulnerable.
“I do blame 100 percent our Prime Minister,” he said. “He’s been the Prime Minister for the last 20 years, and it’s his decision to neglect the diplomatic arena.”
Reflecting on Israel’s past strategy toward Hamas, Daniel said leaders wrongly believed the group could be managed or pacified through financial incentives.
He praised the Iranian diaspora for their empathy and courage. “The only people outside Israel who truly understood our pain were Iranians abroad,” he said. “They know what it’s like to live under terror.”
Standing on Tel Aviv’s Pinsker Street — one of those struck by Iranian missile fire earlier this year — Daniel reflected on resilience. “If we lose compassion, we lose who we are.”
Israel says the attack by Palestinian militants two years ago killed 1,200 people, most of them civilians, and took 251 people captive in Gaza, of whom some 20 are believed to be still alive there.
Palestinian health authorities say Israel's subsequent ground incursion and air attacks have killed more than 67,000 Palestinians.
In Washington, US President Donald Trump said this week that Iran had sent “a very strong signal” it wanted progress toward a Gaza agreement, describing “tremendous progress” in talks.
Iranian spokeswoman Fatemeh Mohajerani responded that Tehran would support any “lasting peace that benefits the people of Palestine and helps stop genocide.”
For Daniel, those diplomatic signals matter most if they lead to the end of the war and the return of the hostages.
“I hope the mark of two years will bring us to a year of healing,” he said. “Not another year of trauma.”
Daniel says he now carries his grandfather’s mission with him — the conviction that peace, empathy, and education are the only weapons strong enough to outlast war.
“Iran’s stablecoin limits will not stop dollar demand — they will only drive it deeper underground,” a Tehran-based economist who did not want to reveal his identity told Iran International.
The Central Bank’s High Council late last month approved a $5,000 annual purchase limit per person and a $10,000 ceiling on total stablecoin holdings.
The rule, announced as the rial plunged to a record low of 1,170,000 per US dollar earlier this month, drew sharp criticism from Iranians using Tether and other digital currencies to protect their assets from geopolitical headwinds.
The slump was triggered by the UN sanctions which resumed late last month after European countries suspicious about Iran's nuclear activities activated the so-called snapback mechanism.
The rial stood slightly below 1,140,000 at the time this report was published.
Even a prominent government official criticized the move.
“A disaster is when policymakers with good intentions, but based on wrong reasons and ignoring evidence, make a decision. The result will be weakening governance, erosion of public trust, a threat to people’s assets and discrediting institutions,” Deputy Minister of Communications Ehsan Chitsaz wrote on X.
Crypto market endangered
Traders contacted by Iran International described the new ceilings as both impractical and punitive. “The government keeps tightening controls because it has no real answer for the collapsing rial,” said Farzad, a 29-year-old trader in Tehran.
“They call it regulation, but it’s just another way to shift the burden onto ordinary people. When markets tumble, traders like us will be trapped — unable to cash out or protect our savings.”
“They’ve also started deciding how much people can spend based on their job status — fifty billion rials if you’re unemployed, 200 billion if you earn a salary,” Parham, a 25-year-old in Tehran, said.
“These limits kill initiative and push everyone toward informal channels.”
Parham referred to another Central Bank directive last week that set tiered limits on rial transactions — 200 billion rials for wage earners, 50 billion for the unemployed, and five billion for inactive entities.
Manipulation risk
The new regulation and a concurrent media campaign were meant to manipulate prices, the economist said.
“The $5,000 Tether cap is not about stability; it’s a cover for manipulation,” he said. “They’re draining liquidity under the guise of regulation and trying to buy time while the rial keeps falling. Fear about frozen assets fuels panic, making people sell at a loss.”
Tasnim, a media outlet linked to Iran's Revolutionary Guards, reported that “thousands of addresses on the Tether network have so far been frozen and their assets effectively made inaccessible,” calling for tighter oversight of exchanges such as Nobitex.
Black-market growth likely
Other commentators say the measure will only feed a shadow economy. Saeed Reza Moradian of OTC Crypto Exchange warned that such limits “will lead to the spread of rented accounts.”
“A $5,000 annual Tether limit destroys the digital economy. People’s needs won’t disappear — they will just move to opaque and foreign platforms,” wrote a user called Sepideh on X.
Iran International has observed advertisements offering cash for renting national ID numbers, allowing others to exploit the $5,000 per person stablecoin quotas.
Central Bank officials insist the measure is needed to prevent capital flight. Asghar Abolhasani, Secretary of the bank's High Council said users have one month to comply. But crypto traders told Iran International the rule is unenforceable.
“You can’t police digital assets with outdated banking tools,” said Farrokh, a Tehran-based trader. “Once trust is gone, people won’t wait — they’ll take their money abroad in whatever form they can.”
Failing controls
The comments by people depict a widening gap between official policy and public behavior. Small traders and households that once relied on Tether as a hedge against inflation now face the choice of breaking the rules or watching their savings erode.
For many Iranians confronting another devaluation and the return of UN sanctions, the Central Bank’s rule represents yet another blow to financial autonomy.
Those who spoke to Iran International said the cap will narrow legal channels, amplify underground trade and further alienate citizens from a banking system which is already widely distrusted.