IRAN’S TRADE WITH WEST SOARING DESPITE SANCTIONS

Trade between Iran and the five permanent members of the United Nations Security Council has soared despite a newly imposed round of international economic sanctions on Iran. A Press TV report claimed that while Iranian imports from the US and the UK have suffered under the new sanctions regime, exports to both countries rose by 76 per cent and 61 per cent, respectively, over the last four months. Trade with China, by many accounts Iran’s most important trading partner, saw a 50 per cent rise in exports and a 40 per cent rise in imports. The only country among the six to record a decrease in both import and export was Russia, with Iranian exports to Russia falling by 20 per cent and imports by 8 per cent over the same period.