We have:

@Transactional(propagation = Propagation.REQUIRED)
public class MyClass implementes MyInterface { ...

MyInterface has a single method: go().

When go() executes we start a new transaction which commits/rollbacks when the method is complete - this is fine.

Now let's say in go() we call a private method in MyClass that has @Transactional(propagation = Propagation.REQUIRES_NEW. It seems that Spring "ignores" the REQUIRES_NEW annotation and does not start a new transaction. I believe this is because Spring AOP operates on the interface level (MyInterface) and does not intercept any calls to MyClass methods. Is this correct?

Is there any way to start a new transaction within the go() transaction? Is the only way to call another Spring managed bean that has transactions configured as REQUIRES_NEW?

Update: Adding that when clients execute go() they do so via a reference to the interface, not the class:

@Autowired
MyInterface impl;

impl.go();