Humanitarian Gesture or Generating Income through Sanctions

Reuters News Agency's report talks about an increase in US exports to Iran. With the current sanctions in place, how have US exports increased?

Yes, Reuters on Monday referred to a report by the US Census Bureau that said that US exports have increased by 30 percent. In other words, we have witnessed about 39 million dollars of increase in US exports to Iran which is not at all a considerable figure in world trade. On the other hand, the question is raised as to why we are witnessing an increase in US exports to Iran despite the increase in sanctions. It should be said that sanctions do not apply to basic commodities such as food and medicine.

What are the main US exports to Iran?

The main export is grains. However, it should be pointed out that an increase in US grain export to Iran has taken place at a time when the export of medical supplies to Iran has decreased because, due to recent US financial sanctions, Iranian importers are not able to pay for these commodities. Iran imports wheat and rice and since the US considers wheat as a basic food item, it has not, for humanitarian reasons, put sanctions on these items. Iran is an importer of these basic and essential items and such a trend is dangerous because if these sanctions intensify, Iran cannot obtain basic food items. Therefore, since these items have not yet been banned, the trend is as before. The only reason why the US has not banned the export of basic food items to Iran is that, in the event of sanctions, all resources will be cut and this will result in an economic catastrophe in Iran. Therefore, humanitarian considerations have been responsible to date for not banning food items and medicine.

Despite the fact that Iran can continue to import such commodities, American companies have for many months complained that they have had more and more difficulties in receiving the money for the sale of their products. How are these companies paid and is there a solution for this problem?

Sanctions against currencies and banks have been responsible for the creation of problems and obstacles for payments made by Iran. In my opinion, these sanctions against currencies can ultimately affect the export of essential commodities. Payments to these companies are done through third-party countries and the reason for these delays is the fact that the US has probably become aware of the way Iran has bypassed sanctions. It seems that if these problems continue, we will witness that these methods will face dead-ends. 

As a country with one of the most successful economies in Europe, Germany has called for the strengthening of sanctions against Iran. How are Iran's trade relations with this country and have these sanctions affected trade relations with Germany?

In fact, Germany is part of the West and the Westerners have opened a common front against Iran. The US is not alone in this matter. European countries are with America in this regard since they have more economic dependency to the US than to Iran. Therefore, with these policies, Europeans have gotten closer to their old friend and even their economic relations will further develop and in these economic crises, they will receive even more help from the US. 

With the increase in sanctions, the currency Iran receives becomes less and, consequently, the price of currencies will increase day by day. On the other hand, if limitations on the export of Iranian oil increase further, less oil is sold; therefore less currency is received leading to an increase in the price of currencies. When the price of currencies increase, inflation will eventually increase as well.

In the current economic crisis, what is the solution?

With the suggestion of some Iranian officials for negotiations with the US, it seems that this crisis can only be solved through a political solution.

Is it possible that these sanctions will eventually move towards the inclusion of basic commodities such as grains or medicines?

This is possible. We hope not to face such an eventuality because Iran is not self-sufficient in many areas. Moreover, if some factories whose parts need to be imported from other countries are banned, their production lines will be stopped.