Biden Makes Case for Sanctions on Iran

ISTANBUL – U.S. Vice President Joe Biden made the case for sanctions against Iran in a meeting on Saturday with Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

The vice president did not ask Turkey to join the U.S. and others in sanctioning Iran, a senior Obama administration official said.

"The vice president further made the case that we needed to sustain the pressure on Iran, and that this was the most likely way we would have to actually modify their behavior," a senior administration official said after the meeting. Biden "noted that, clearly, the sanctions were having a demonstrable impact on Iran," because Iranian influence is declining, the official said.

Biden spent two hours with Erdogan inside the prime minister's private home, where the two men sat in their slippers and discussed foreign affairs.

Earlier Saturday, during a summit designed to strengthen ties between the U.S. and Arab nations, Biden publicly praised the Turkish government for aligning with the U.S. in calling for Syrian President Bashar al Assad to step down. He pressed upon Erdogan that there is growing international consensus around the U.S. and Turkish positions that Assad needs to relinquish power, the senior administration official said. But the two men did not discuss what comes next regarding Syria, according to the official.

The meeting with Erdogan was unusual for its intimacy. The prime minister rarely hosts people at his private home, but he has been recovering from minor surgery. Erdogan has not been seen in public since he underwent the procedure.

Click here to read more from The Wall Street Journal