Trade Between Iran & Oman Needs to Sharply Increase: Joint Chamber Head

Trade between Iran and Oman should expand severalfold from its current annual volume of under US$5 billion, given that Iran’s trade with the neighboring United Arab Emirates exceeds US$26 billion, the head of the Iran-Oman Joint Chamber of Commerce said on Tuesday. Jamal Razeghi told a meeting of the provincial government-private sector dialogue council in Kohgiluyeh and Boyer-Ahmad Province that while Iran-UAE trade stood at roughly US$26 billion per year, bilateral trade with Oman had yet to surpass the US$5 billion mark. “Iran-Oman relations have continued unabated since before the Islamic Revolution (1979), but in practice, insufficient attention has been paid to developing trade with this country,” Razeghi said, according to the state-run IRNA news agency.

He said bilateral trade had grown at an annual rate of 30% to 40% over the past three years, but added: “Despite this growth, the absolute value of trade remains low and has stayed below US$5 billion.” Razeghi said the private sector had for years called for diverting a portion of Iran’s trade away from the UAE and toward Oman, but that for various reasons, such a shift had not been permitted. He also outlined disruptions caused by Iran’s heavy reliance on UAE trade routes during the recent conflict. A large share of the country’s trade had been channeled through the UAE’s Jebel Ali port, he said, and when the UAE announced that even Iranian vessels would not be allowed to load or unload cargo there, a significant portion of trade effectively ground to a halt. “This year, in particular, the country’s farmers suffered serious losses in exporting their products, and we also faced major difficulties in importing essential goods,” Razeghi said. “Policymakers should learn from this experience and avoid concentrating the country’s trade on a single destination.”

Iran’s southern ports remain under a US naval blockade imposed by former President Donald Trump in mid-April, part of an effort to pressure Tehran into an agreement following a 40-day US-Israeli war that began in late February. After a several-week pause following the signing of a memorandum of understanding, strikes on Iranian infrastructure resumed in mid-July, and the blockade was also reinstated. Iran has been seeking to diversify its logistics routes to counter growing restrictions on trade corridors, redirecting cargo operations to northern ports as well as to ports in Pakistan, India and Oman after activity at Jebel Ali was disrupted during wartime conditions. - Iran Daily