IRNA � Foreign Minister Mohammad-Javad Zarif says the world community has withstood the US' sanctions.

'The world community has withstood the US sanctions as is testified by the neighboring and European countries' strong resistance against Washington's unilateral action,' said Zarif in an interview with IRNA on the sidelines of his trilateral meeting with the Azeri and Turkish counterparts.

He said Americans failed to meet their targets due to issuing 'illegal' sanctions against Iran.

He added that today, global community faces only one choice, which has nothing to do with the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) and Iran and the choice is the choice of supporting a legal method against the illegal and bullying method.

The minister said the US' decision of sanctioning Iran is contrary to the international law and norms, adding, 'Unfortunately, a country, which violates rules, wants to punish the countries which adhere to law.'

He said such a method will entail grave consequences for the world order.

He then thanked Turkish President Recep Teyyip Erdogan and minister Mevl�t �avu?o?lu for their stance of support for Iran against the US' 'illegal and unilateral' sanctions and said, 'Certain private companies may make changes in their method of working with Iran but countries like Turkey will not allow their ties to be affected just because of the wish of another country.'

Zarif said both Azerbaijan and Turkey are supporting Iran's stances on the sanctions and stress continuing cooperation with the country.

'In the meeting, there were also talks on transit, energy, tourism and knowledge-based cooperation, hoping its continuation,' he announced.

The Iranian top diplomat also expressed satisfaction with the 'very good and helpful' talks with the Turkish and Azeri sides and said the three sides agreed on continuing to hold their 7th meeting in Tehran next year and cooperate in various domains as referred to in the trilaterally issued statement.

The 6th Iran-Turkey-Azerbaijan Foreign Ministers Meeting was held in Istanbul on Tuesday, where they discussed ample issues, including those pertinent to cooperation in transit, transportation, energy, customs, commerce, and so on domains. It also focused on political and technical cooperation on trilateral and regional levels in favor of regional peace and stability.

Zarif arrived in Istanbul on Monday to take part in the official inauguration of Istanbul's third airport.

The 5th Iran-Turkey-Azerbaijan Foreign Ministers' Meeting was held in Baku last year.