The US Mission to Ankara declared they would snub Turkey after a US consulate employee in Istanbul was arrested on charges of links to a cleric blamed for last year’s failed coup.
The move was condemned by Washington, who claimed the Erdogan regime had no evidence to back up their claims amid fears the feud could damage a key tactical relationship for the US.
Turkey is a key base for Trump’s military operations in the Middle East, with US jets flying out of the Incirlik Air Base in Adana and the Izmir air station south of Istanbul.
In a statement, US officials said: “Recent events have forced the United States government to reassess the commitment of Government of Turkey to the security of US mission and personnel.
“In order to minimise the number of visitors to our embassy and consulates while this assessment proceeds, effective immediately we have suspended all non-immigrant visa services at all US diplomatic facilities in Turkey.”
In response the Turkish embassy in Washington followed the US example, making almost exactly the same statement in return and limiting Turkish visa services.
State-run news networks have since claimed the arrested consulate employee is a male Turkish citizen and faces charges of espionage and attempts to damage the constitutional order and Turkey’s government.
It comes after months of diplomatic conflict between the US and Turkey since Donald Trump rose to the Presidency.
Turkey has hit out at US military support for Kurdish YPG fighters in the fight against ISIS in Syria.
Ankara considers the YPG fighters to be part of the state-banned PKK, which has waged an insurgency for three decades in southeast Turkey.
The nation has also pushed the Trump administration into extraditing Fethullah Gulen, who they blame for the July 2016 coup.
Mr Gulen denies any involvement in the conflict, in which more than 240 people were killed amid an attempt to overthrow President Erdogan.
It comes as Iran lashed out at Donald Trump saying the “entire world will condemn America” over the US President’s plans to scrap its nuclear deal.
The Iranian President, Hassan Rouhani, has defended the nuclear deal saying President Trump cannot undermine the settlement and that the agreement is “irreversible.”
The nuclear deal reached in 2015 is “not in the national interest” of the US according to Trump, who said Iran has not “lived up to the spirit” of the nuclear agreement.