It was puzzling that Ankara allowed this to continue: The Turks — NATO allies who have assured Washington that they oppose Iran's military-nuclear program — brazenly conducted these massive gold transactions even after the Obama administration tightened sanctions on Iran's precious metals trade in July 2012. Turkey, however, chose to exploit a loophole that technically permitted the transfer of billions of dollars of gold to so-called "private" entities in Iran. Iranian Ambassador to Turkey Ali Reza Bikdeli recently praised Halkbank for its "smart management decisions in recent years [that] have played an important role in Iranian-Turkish relations." Halkbank insists that its role in these transactions was entirely legal. The U.S. Congress and President Obama closed this "golden loophole" in January 2013.