Selim I wanted to use the Ottoman Empire's central location to completely cut the ties between Shah Ismail's Safavid Empire and the rest of the world.Küçükdağ, Yusuf. "Measures Taken by the Ottoman State against Shah İsmail's Attempts to Convert Anatolia to Shia." University of Gaziantep Journal of Social Sciences7, no. 1 (2008). Page 12. Even though the raw materials for important Ottoman silk production at that time came from Persia rather than developed within the Ottoman Empire itself,Floor, Herzig, Floor, Willem M, Herzig, Edmund, and Iran Heritage Foundation. Iran and the World in the Safavid Age. International Library of Iranian Studies ; 2. London ; New York: I.B. Tauris, 2012. Chapter 13: Trade between the Ottomans and Safavids: The Acem Tϋccari and others. Page 237. he imposed a strict embargo on Iranian silk in an attempt to collapse their economy. For a short amount of time, the silk resources were imported via the Mamluk territory of Aleppo, but by 1517, Selim I had conquered the Mamluk state and the trade fully came to a standstill.Floor, Herzig, Floor, Willem M, Herzig, Edmund, and Iran Heritage Foundation. Iran and the World in the Safavid Age. International Library of Iranian Studies ; 2. London ; New York: I.B. Tauris, 2012. Chapter 13: Trade between the Ottomans and Safavids: The Acem Tϋccari and others. Page 238. So strict was this embargo that, "merchants who had been incautious enough not to immediately leave Ottoman territory when war was declared had their goods taken away and were imprisoned," and to emphasize frontier security, sancaks along the border between the two empires were given exclusively to Sunnis and those who did not have any relationship with the Safavid-sympathizing Kızılbaş.Küçükdağ, Yusuf. "Measures Taken by the Ottoman State against Shah İsmail's Attempts to Convert Anatolia to Shia." University of Gaziantep Journal of Social Sciences7, no. 1 (2008). Page 11. Iranian merchants were barred from entering the borders of the Ottoman Empire under Selim I. Shah Ismail received revenue via customs duties, therefore after the war to demonstrate his commitment to their thorny rivalry, Selim I halted trade with the Safavids—even at the expense of his empire's own silk industry and citizens.
