Iran Conducts Direct Trade Only With Five Countries: Official

A member of Iran’s Chamber of Commerce says the country conducts direct trade only with China, Russia, Turkey, UAE and Oman, and with others through intermediaries.

Bahram Shakouri said in an interview with ILNA on Monday that due to US and other sanctions, official trade relations between Iran and Japan have reached zero.

“Japan and the US have significant joint investments and it is natural that after the imposition of US sanctions against Iran, the Japanese would prefer to limit their trade with Iran,” he noted.

Emphasizing the necessity to join the international money laundering watchdog, the FATF, Shakouti stated Iran's relations with other countries and its diplomacy should be boosted.

“Economic diplomacy affects politics, but in Iran it is the opposite, politics affects the economy, and the economy pays the cost of this policy. It seems that we must revise our relations with the world, if this is not done, we will face more problems day by day,” reiterated Shakouri.

Iran has been on the FATF blacklist, along with North Korea, since February 2020 for failing to pass legislation introducing transparency measures designed to combat money-laundering, corruption, and financing of ‘terrorism.’ FATF members – who host most of the world’s financial centers – are required to undertake enhanced diligence and countermeasures against blacklisted states.

The FATF blacklist carries with it no formal sanctions, but financial institutions shift their resources and services away from blacklisted countries not to risk legal complications.