An Iranian goods train carrying tonnes of agricultural products chugged into a western Afghan province Thursday as the two countries marked the opening of their first shared railway network.
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All tagged trade
◢ Iran overtook Russia to emerge as the top buyer of Indian tea last year, after sanctions against the Islamic Republic halted imports other than specially negotiated deals. India and Iran have been trading through a rupee-based bank account to bypass restrictions imposed by the U.S.
◢ Paris, London and Berlin on Saturday welcomed six new European countries to the INSTEX mechanism, which is designed to mitigate the effects of US sanctions on European trade with Iran. They also insisted Iran must return to full compliance with its commitments under the deal "without delay.”
◢ Iranian Foreign Minister Javad Zarif said on Wednesday European powers were incapable of bypassing sanctions imposed on Tehran by the US after it withdrew from the Iran nuclear deal. Iran and six world powers agreed on a deal in 2015 that severely restricted Tehran's nuclear activities in return for sanctions relief and economic incentives.
◢ With the web of US sanctions tightening, Iran faces a host of challenges as it looks to an isolated port in the country's far southeast to maintain the flow of goods. The port in Chabahar, only about 100 kilometers (62 miles) from the Pakistan border and located on the Indian Ocean, is Iran's largest outside the Gulf.
◢ Tehran on Thursday cautiously welcomed as a "first step" the expected launch of an EU trade entity aimed at saving Iran's nuclear deal by bypassing US sanctions. The special payment mechanism "is the first step within the set of commitments the Europeans have made to Iran which I hope will be fully implemented and not be incomplete," said deputy foreign minister Abbas Araghchi, according to state news agency IRNA.
◢ Britain, France and Germany will launch a special payment mechanism Thursday that the EU hopes will help save the Iran nuclear deal by bypassing US sanctions, European sources told AFP. The entity, to be registered in France with German governance and finance from all three countries, will allow Iran to trade with EU companies despite Washington reimposing sanctions after President Donald Trump pulled out of the 2015 accord.
◢ Iran said Saturday it had finalized a deal with South Korea to trade oil for goods, skirting renewed US sanctions. "A mechanism has been devised for returning oil export revenues from South Korea, by which Iran's oil export revenue will be bartered with imported goods," Hossein Tanhayi, head of the Iran-South Korea chamber of commerce, told state news agency IRNA.
◢ Cuba hopes a special payment system the EU is creating to get round US sanctions on Iran will help it sidestep its own Washington-imposed trade embargo, a senior official told AFP on Monday. Brussels is working on a "special purpose vehicle" (SPV)—a system for clearing payments to Iran—-as it seeks to keep trade flowing despite Washington reimposing sanctions after ditching the 2015 nuclear deal with Tehran.
◢ Iraq's new President Barham Saleh made his first official visit to neighbouring Iran on Saturday, calling for "a new order in the region.” Saleh met his counterpart Hassan Rouhani to discuss trade, transport links and efforts to tackle dust pollution that plagues areas on both sides of the border.
◢ Austria has rejected hosting a special payment system designed to help EU countries trade with Iran despite US sanctions, the Austrian foreign ministry said Tuesday. "We were asked if Austria would be prepared in principle to host this special purpose vehicle," foreign ministry spokesman Peter Guschelbauer said.
◢ The United States said Tuesday it would exempt Iran's Indian-backed port of Chabahar from new sanctions on Tehran, recognizing the value of the project to Afghanistan. Iran late last year inaugurated the port on the Indian Ocean which provides a key supply route to landlocked Afghanistan and allows India to bypass its historic enemy Pakistan.
◢ "Talk of sanctions on Iran reemerged, and my essential medicine was no longer available," said Masoud Mir who suffers from thalassaemia, a genetic blood disease common in Iran. Mir, 36, is one of many patients in the Islamic Republic who not only have to deal with their disability, but also the consequences of trade sanctions reimposed in August by the US, as well as a battered economy with a free-falling currency, a foreign drug shortage and price hikes.
◢ German Chancellor Angela Merkel and Chinese Premier Li Keqiang defended the Iran nuclear deal on Thursday, with Li hinting that terminating the pact would complicate negotiations with North Korea. Merkel and Li showed a united front on Iran and free trade—two issues that have seen high-profile interventions by US President Donald Trump—during their meeting at the opulent Great Hall of the People in Beijing.
◢ European Union leaders agreed on a "united EU approach" to keeping the Iran nuclear deal alive after US President Donald Trump withdrew from the pact, a European source said after talks in Bulgaria. The 28 EU leaders also backed a plan for dealing with trade tariffs that Trump is imposing on European metals, saying that the "EU will not negotiate with a gun at its head.”
◢ While Russia has condemned Washington for its withdrawal from the Iran nuclear deal, Moscow remains less exposed to the economic consequences of US sanctions than Europe and its companies could even benefit from the move. Russia and Iran sought to strengthen their business ties long before the 2015 agreement, despite international sanctions in place.
◢ The Turkish economy minister on Friday said the United States withdrawal from the Iran nuclear deal was an "opportunity" for Turkey, insisting there would be no-let up in trade with Tehran. "I see it like this, this is an opportunity for Turkey," Nihat Zeybekci told state news agency Anadolu, adding: "I will continue to trade with Iran."
