The relations between the USA and Turkey have turned for the worst. The USA has now restored the need for a visa after audio recordings have surfaced indicating that the evasion of Iran sanctions was approved by the Turkish President Erdogan. The US arrested Turkish-Iranian gold trader Reza Zarrab in the case of money laundering when he was acting as a middleman between the Turkish government and Iran for years. Since there is now a possibility of the involvement of Turkey in helping Iran circumvent the sanctions, relations have taken a turn for the worse.
The New York prosecutors also charged a representative of the semi-state Turkish Halkbank when he was flying through John F. Kennedy Airport in New York. They have charged him with conspiracy acting with Zarrab. It is alleged that both were doing business on behalf of the Turkish government and directly on behalf of Erdogan with Iran
