Iran Ambassador to Turkey Ali Reza Bigdeli says Tehran and Ankara will resume gold trade once sanctions on Iran are relaxed following a recent nuclear deal with the six world powers.
Certainly, the gold trade between Iran and Turkey will resume, Bigdeli said in Ankara on Friday.
Due to the problems for money transfers in 2012, the gold trade rose. I dont think that we are still in the same situation that would require us to trade in gold in those amounts, he added.
Until 2012, when the United States imposed bans on the trade of precious metals against Iran, Turkey was using gold to pay for its crude oil and natural gas imports from Iran.
Iran and the six world powers sealed an interim deal in Geneva on Sunday morning to pave the way for the full resolution of the Wests decade-old dispute with Iran over the countrys nuclear energy program.
In exchange for Iran agreeing to limit certain aspects of its nuclear activities, the United States and its allies have agreed to lift some of the existing sanctions against the Islamic Republic.
Bigdeli said, There are a lot of areas between Iran and Turkey that we could trade, [and] we should revive those, too.
On Thursday, Turkeys Economy Minister Zafer Caglayan said all Turkish banks will be able to conduct transactions with Iran should the sanctions on Iran were eased.
In case the sanctions on Iran are eased, Halkbank and other Turkish banks will announce their readiness to process Irans foreign banking transactions, Caglayan said in Istanbul.
State-owned Halkbank is one of Turkeys biggest banks.