The first person that Obama telephoned when elected president in 2008 was Turkish Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan. This relationship has only strengthened since then:
1. Benghazi was the launching point for arms to Turkey to supply the rebels in Syria.
2. The Syrian Opposition Council that Obama has now recognized as the legitimate government of Syria formed and meets in Turkey.
3. The US is massing troops and Patriot missiles in Turkey to launch an attack on Syria:
The soldiers were beefing up Turkey’s border and readying Patriot missiles three days after NATO agreed to deploy the MIM-104 Patriot surface-to-air missile system in Turkey. Ankara had requested the installations as a defense against a Syrian missile attack, possibly with chemical weapons.
4. Erdogan’s goal is to establish a new Muslim Caliphate:
So when Erdogan supports Iran and ignores US sanctions, the U.S. Senate “passed a measure targeting loopholes in gold exports to the Islamic Republic”. We will see how deeply Obama supports the United States or Erdogan by whether he signs or vetoes this measure.
David DeGerolamo
Obama Likely To Approve Gold Sanctions on Iran As Currency Wars Escalate
Turkey’s trade balance may turn on whether President Barack Obama vetoes more stringent sanctions against Iran after the U.S. Senate passed a measure targeting loopholes in gold exports to the Islamic Republic.
Turkey’s gold trade with neighbouring Iran has helped shrink its trade deficit over the past year according to Bloomberg.
Incredibly, precious metals accounted for about half of the almost $21 billion decline.
That’s calmed investor concern over its current-account gap, and helped persuade Fitch Ratings to give Turkey its first investment-grade rating since 1994.
The U.S. Senate voted 94-0 on Nov. 30 to approve new sanctions against Iran, closing gaps from previous measures, including trade in precious metals. Obama, who opposes the move on the grounds it may undercut existing efforts to rein in the nation’s nuclear ambitions, signed an executive order in July restricting gold payments to Iranian state institutions.
Turkey exported $11.9 billion of gold in the first 10 months of the year, according to the Ankara-based statistics agency’s website.
A very large 85% of the shipments went to Iran and the United Arab Emirates.
Iran is buying the gold with payments Turkey makes for natural gas it purchases in liras, Turkish Deputy Prime Minister Ali Babacan told a parliamentary committee in Ankara on Nov. 23.
