Despite tighter sanctions on global trade with Tehran's energy and shipping sectors, Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan of Turkey said on Monday that he would continue to buy natural gas from the Iranian regime.

"We have always told officials that the issue is of strategic importance to us and we couldn't comply with the sanctions," Erdogan said in a news conference with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Istanbul.

"We are at the same point now. We told them we would carry out the necessary swap because it's a strategic product and we will continue in that direction in the future," he said.