Turkey’s Minister of Economy Mehmet Zafer Caglayan has issued defiant statement, conveyed by Iranian mediato the effect that his country will continue trading with Iran despite international efforts to isolate the regime. Turkey’s economy is increasingly reliant on trading gold for Iranian energy, both to ensure growth and for balancing Turkey’s trade deficit, and Turkish Prime Minister Recep Erdogan has described the trade relationship as “strategic necessity.” Turkey’s gold trade has increased despite concentrated efforts by the United States to target gold payments to Iranian state institutions.