ISTANBUL (Reuters) – President Tayyip Erdogan on Friday criticized charges announced by U.S. prosecutors against a Turkish former economy minister for conspiring to violate U.S. sanctions on Iran as politically motivated and called on Washington to review the move.

Erdogan said he had told Washington that Turkey would not be a part of U.S. sanctions on Tehran.

“These steps are purely political,” he told reporters before leaving Istanbul for Kazakhstan. “The United States needs to revise this decision, there are very peculiar smells coming from this issue.”

“I hope we’ll get a chance to discuss this issue in the United States,” he added. “You may be a big nation, but being a just nation is something else. Being a just nation requires the legal system to work fairly.”