The Turkish lira is coming under increasing pressure. The day before the Turkish Federal Reserve's interest rate decision, investors withdrew from the country's currency - driving the dollar to a six-month high of 5.8806 lira. One euro increases by 0.8 percent to 5.5932 lira.
"The Turkish lira is becoming a plaything in the political relationship between the US and Turkey," said analyst Salah-Eddine Bouhmidi of brokerage DailyFX. Because: From the beginning of May, the US wants to do more than ever before against the Iranian oil business - and in the process, amongst other things, will overturn the exemption also currently valid for Turkey's flagging economy. Monday's announcement also boosted the price of Brent from the North Sea to a six-month high of $ 74.73 a barrel.
Constant interest rates despite inflation?
The government in Ankara has already announced that it will not bow to the US embargo. "We do not accept unilateral sanctions and taxes on how to build relationships with our neighbors," Foreign Minister Mevlüt Cavusoglu told state news agency Anadolu.
According to broker Bouhmidi, this attitude further aggravates the conflict: "President Erdogan poured more fuel into the fire yesterday, making it clear that Turkey would not obey the US in Iranian oil imports."
Commerzbank analyst Tatha Ghose said Turkey could lose twice in the current situation. On the one hand, the rise in oil prices is fueling inflation, which could soon exceed the 20 percent threshold. On the other hand, it is taken for granted among stockbrokers that the Turkish central bank will leave the key interest rate at 24 percent on Thursday.
Sanctions against Iran have been gradually tightened since last year after US President Donald Trump unilaterally withdrew from the Tehran nuclear deal in May. He considers the 2015 agreement to limit the Iranian nuclear program to be inadequate.